The Exchange
by MysticLyght
Summary: AU-Suna-verse: Team 7 Age swap with Kakashi - As per agreement between Suna and Konoha in an effort to regain peace after the last Great Shinobi World War, Sakura was sent on a medical exchange to Suna where she will teach medical ninjustu and learn about poisons from Chiyo. Little did she know that knowledge would not be the only thing exchanged...
1. Prolog

**Hello all, my love for Sasosaku resurfaced lately and I had to write something to ease my fangirlness. This story will be updated regularly. Update: This story was originally suppose to be short and end on a humorous note, but I've decided to extend the story with a sequel. The sequel will be more romance/drama centric, unlike this one which is more based on friendship that became romance.**

 **World: AU Suna-Verse - Team 7 and Kakashi age swap. Basically, in the main story, Sasori is 26, Sakura (+ her boys) are 20, Kakashi is 10, Rin and Obito are 12. I am a big fan of Sasosaku, but a story in canon-verse usually rely on some sort of time travel or resurrection to bring the pair closer in age (or else Sasori would be a cradle-robber.) I am also aiming for a more lighthearted story with a dash or humor here and there, so hence this Suna-verse.**

 **Rating: T**

 **Main Characters: Sasori, Sakura**

 **Genre: Romance / Friendship**

 **Full Summary: Per agreement between Suna and Konoha, Sakura was sent on a medical exchange to Suna, where she will teach medical ninjutsus and in exchange, learn about poisons from Chiyo. Little did she know that it was not only knowledge that would be exchanged.**

 **The Exchange: Foreword**

He knew about Chiyo-Baa-Sama's grandson. Everyone in the village knew about him. Some felt sorry for him since his parents perished during the war when he was just a child. Some admired him for his skills and talents as a shinobi and warrior of Suna. Some fawned over his charming, boyish face. Some feared him when they learned of the first human puppet.

But to him, Sasori was a shinobi with limitless loyalty - if his trust was earned. He knew that this teenager would be one of his greatest warrior for years to come.

"Did you call for me, Kazekage-sama?" The red haired boy in question greeted the man donning the third kazekage's robe, as he entered the quiet office.

"Sasori," the Third Kazekage smiled as he gestured for the boy to come closer. "On time as always."

Sasori nodded as he stood to attention. He was wearing his standard jounin flak jacket and carrying some of his battle gear, despite working inside his workshop all day.

"I called you here because I wanted to see for myself," the Third narrowed his silver eyes slightly, "The creator of the first human puppet."

A flash of emotion crossed Sasori's eyes, but it was gone so quickly that only highly skilled shinobis, such as the Kazekage, would have caught it.

"Chiyo-Baa-Sama reported to me. She seemed concerned about you, but I think what you did was fascinating... Given that you did not intentionally kill the boy."

Sasori muttered under his breath, "But I did kill him. It was my poison that ended his life."

"Sasori, Sasori. I read the autopsy report. Your friend accidentally ingested the poison that you placed onto his prosthetic arm - which was a feat in itself - but it was not your fault."

The Third was watching the boy carefully. He knew that Sasori was a strong shinobi, but his heart was vulnerable. He had a fall out with his grandmother, after discovering her lie about his parents. And now, after the passing of his only friend, this boy clung to any offer of companionship. He was a seedling, buried in the ungiving sand, fighting for the day when water would come and help him flourish.

" _And I will be that source of water that he needs,_ " thought the Kazekage as the boy quieted down once more.

"I want you to become a special ANBU elite and serve as my right hand man."

Sasori's eyes widen a small fraction, "But I am not even an ANBU operative."

"Yes, but the entire village knows of your abilities and many high ranking operatives and council members know that you have completed missions on par to ANBU's missions. Just because you did not apply to become ANBU, does not mean you are not qualified to be one," the Third continued before he could be interrupted, "In exchange for your services, I grant you access to the bodies of prisoners that are to be executed and bodies of Suna's own shinobis who perished - given that their families do not object, of course."

The implications in the Kazekage's words did not escape Sasori. The leader of Suna was literally offering him access to bodies, perhaps some with special abilities, for him to convert into his human puppets. This meant that he did not need to end lives unnecessarily.

Honey almond eyes met silver ones head on, "All I have to do is become ANBU?"

"Yes," the Kazekage smirked.

"When do I start?"

"Be at ANBU headquarters at six tomorrow morning and the vice commander will give you the rundown. You are dismissed."

Sasori nodded politely, then turned to leave. His eyes lingered at the window behind the Kage for a brief moment before he exited the room.

The Third clasped his hands together in front of him and rested his chin on it. A shadow jumped in through the window and her baggy clothes flopped back into place as she landed.

"Chiyo-Baa-Sama," the Third greeted with a small smirk.

"I advised against having Sasori as an ANBU elite. His heart is too gentle for it," Chiyo muttered as her beady eyes stared right at the Kazekage.

"Chiyo-Baa-Sama, forgive my rudeness, but I believe you have hindered his potential long enough. A shinobi train in order to become stronger. Just as how his body grows stronger, his heart needs to grow stronger, too. Your method of "protecting" him is the reason why he no longer speaks with you unless absolutely necessary."

The Elder sighed. Sasori had only spoken 10 sentences to her since he found out the truth of his parents' death 5 years ago. To say their relationship was broken was an understatement.

 **11 years later, in Konoha**

"Naruto-sensei! When are we going to train with Sakura-sensei and Sasuke-sensei again?" a dark haired boy with goggles around his eyes asked.

"Yeah! I missed them. I want to show Sakura-sensei how much better I am at healing small cuts now," a girl with short brown hair and purple marks on her face added.

"..." the last person on the team, with black lazy eyes, did not say a word, but images of a smiling pink haired woman flooded his mind and a small tinge of pink appeared under his mask.

Naruto groaned as he took a step back from the three genins that were slowly mobbing him into a corner. He held up his hands in a defensive position, "Geez! Calm down, will y'all? Sometimes I feel like y'all don't appreciate me enough as your sensei."

"Of course we love you, sensei, but it's been a while since we last saw your teammates!" chorused the two talkative members of the team.

Naruto scratched his chin, "I guess you are right. Sakura-chan and Sasuke have been really busy lately."

It had been many years since the "end" of last Great Shinobi World War and talks of treaties and alliance had finally begun. For some, it seemed the effort was futile since the villages still did not trust others. For others, it was a start to peace and hopefully, less death. This was why the two other members of Team 7 had been occupied lately - Sasuke, as a member of the prestigious Uchiha Clan, had to attend meetings with his father and Sakura, as the apprentice of Tsunade, the Hokage, also tagged along to those meetings to give her perspective from a health-care professional's point of view.

Technically, Naruto had to attend as well, since he was the Kyyubi's host and many villages still feared the nine-tailed beast sealed inside of him. However, Tsunade argued that he was a Konoha shinobi first and foremost and not a weapon of destruction, which was why she exempted him from attending. Truth be told, the tailed beasts were a sensitive topic during the meetings. It was true that all nine beasts have been sealed and each of the five main shinobi villages had one jinchuruki, but people needed promises that none of these beasts would be unleashed ever again.

Naruto scratched his head, "I think today is the last meeting for a while. I am meeting them for Ichiraku ramen later. But you guys shouldn't come, we are going to be boring and talk about politics."

Obito made a face and Rin sighed, but Kakashi perked up.

"I'll pass." "Maybe next time then." "I will go!"

All three pairs of eyes focused on Kakashi and his raised hand.

"If only you have such enthusiasm when I want to work on team building exercises," Naruto sighed as he waved goodbye to the rest of the team and followed Kakashi, who already started walking away from the training grounds.

Obito nudged Rin's shoulder, "He so has a crush on Sakura-sensei."

Rin nudge back, "Only Naruto-sensei is blind enough to not notice it. But Sakura-sensei is super awesome! Besides, it only makes sense to like someone who saved your father from the brink of death."

Naruto had his arms crossed behind his head as he walked leisurely next to Kakashi. For every step he took, Kakashi needed to take two. After all, Naruto was quite tall and Kakashi was a small kid. He peeked at his student from the corner of his eyes, "You really like my team, huh?"

Kakashi looked back at him, "Sakura-sensei saved my father's life."

"Yeah."

Saving Sakumo Hatake's life was nothing short of a miracle. His team was ambushed during a S-rank mission and Sakumo, being who he was, took the blunt of the attack to protect his teammates. He had returned, slung over two of his teammates, with makeshift bandages that were barely holding his innards together. It was only his will power that kept him alive. It was lucky that Sakura was at the hospital at that moment and pulled him away from certain death.

That was the first time Kakashi met his pink haired Goddess. Her hair and clothes were soaked in his father's blood and she was resting on the ground against the wall, with her eyes closed. When she blinked them open, viridian green focused on him and a small smile graced her lips. He had ran to her then, not knowing why, but he found himself hugging her and crying out "thank you" until his voice was lost.

One week later, when Team Naruto went to see Sakumo prior to his discharge from the hospital, they were formally introduced to their sensei's genin team: the world famous Team 7. Obito had immediately jumped at Sasuke, asking him to help him train his sharingan and Rin had shyly asked Sakura for medical training; both of them made Naruto cry in betrayal. Kakashi had remained quiet, but his father smiled to himself when he saw how his son's eyes never left the medic-nin.

Naruto pushed aside the drapes that hung over Ichiraku and smiled at his teammates, who were already sitting inside.

"Naruto! We already ordered for you!" Sakura chirped.

"Thanks, you are the best, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto was about to sit on the open seat on the right of the pinkette, but Kakashi scurried beneath his arm and plopped down in the blink of an eye.

"But I wanted to sit there!" Naruto wailed.

Sakura blinked twice before addressing Kakashi, "Kakashi-kun, how nice of you to join us." The silver haired boy immediately blushed. The medic-nin felt slightly guilty as she inwardly giggled at the genin's flustered face.

Sasuke sighed, "Just get over here, Naruto."

With a defeated slump on his shoulders, Naruto sat down on Sasuke's left. "Can we-"

"No."

"But you didn't hear my whole sentence!"

"No, you cannot change seats with me," Sasuke glowered.

Sakura laughed, "Naruto, you can still see me from over there! Over the Sasuke-Up-Do Mountain!"

"I told you guys that my hair is naturally spiky!" Sasuke growled as Ayame started serving their food.

"Anyways, how did y'all meetings go?" Naruto asked as he broke his chopsticks apart.

"Same old. There was barely any progress during the Noble Clans meeting. No one wants to send their own kin for a diplomatic exchange," Sasuke stated.

"Well yeah, no one wants their clan secrets to be leaked out," Sakura mumbled as she slurped up her noodle.

"What about you, Sakura?"

"We actually made a big leap in progress today for the medical division!" Sakura smiled at her boys.

"Which is?" Sasuke asked as Naruto and Sakura high-fived over his head.

"As of now, Suna and Konoha have agreed to have a medical knowledge exchange. Konoha, being more advanced in medical knowledge, will be sending a representative to Suna for three months. In exchange, this representative will be receiving poison training from their renowned Elder Chiyo-sama and participate in regular meetings with the Kazekage."

"Wait, what?" Naruto choked, "Why is Konoha sending someone instead of Suna sending over medic-nins to learn?"

Sasuke smacked his back, "It's much easier to send one than to send many, idiot. Who is the representative that we are sending? Must be a highly skilled personnel who could also defend themselves, right? Just in case the "peace" falls through."

Sakura nodded and then pointed proudly at herself, "Yup, which is why, I, Sakura Haruno, will be journeying to Suna in two days' time!"

All at once, three things happened. Naruto spit out his ramen onto Sasuke's back, Sasuke snapped his chopsticks, and Kakashi fell off his stool.

 **2 days later, at the main gate of Konoha**

Sakura secured her pack tightly and did one last mental count of her belongings. She was set to leave Konoha at ten am sharp and due to arrive at Suna in four days by evening. Two ANBUs that are accompanying her during the journey were waiting at the top of the gates as Sakura bid farewell to her friends.

Ino hugged Sakura tightly, "If you find a cute man, you must let me know immediately!"

Sasuke also hugged her, albeit awkwardly, "Be safe."

Naruto wouldn't let go of Sakura until Ino whacked him on the head. "I can't believe you are going there by yourself! What will I do without you for three months?!"

Sakura laughed, "You will be okay." Then she turned to face her blonde teammates' genins and pulled all three into one big hug. "Make sure your sensei behaves himself, alright?"

Rin and Obito cheered while Kakashi tried to not faint.

"I will be on my way then!" Sakura waved one last time and then bounded into the forest, with the ANBUs following close behind.


	2. Chapter 1: Suna

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 1: Suna**

"Sakura Haruno."

"Kazekage-sama."

The Third Kazekage observed the kunoichi bowing in front of him with one quick sweep of his eyes. He already read her file during the medical exchange discussion meeting, so he had a general idea of what to expect. At first, he found the pink haired kunoichi with the big green eyes far from intimidating, but her record of medical prowess was something to behold. Her battle abilities were not included in her file, since this was a purely medical exchange, but he had heard of her inhuman-strength, taijutsu, and genjutsu abilities. She was the discipline of Tsunade, the legendary Sannin, so it would be the wisest of him to not underestimate the power behind her innocent appearance.

Despite having her head bowed, Sakura was also sizing up the Kazekage. She knew from the bingo books and archive files that the Third Kazekage was said to be the strongest shinobi of Suna and that after he became Kage, he had forbidden people to ever address him by his name. His ability to control iron sands sent fear down his enemies' spine before he annihilated them. He was also smart and charismatic, which was why he was one of the youngest shinobi to receive the title of kage. This man was also quite tall and not terrible to look at, mused Sakura.

"We will be taking our leave now, Sakura-san," the ANBUs said softly as Sakura stood back up to her full height.

"Take care and if the dummies bother you two, tell them I will get them when I come back!" the pinkette smiled as she gave each ANBU a quick hug, to the curiosity of the Kazekage, and waved them goodbye.

"I see Konoha shinobis are close with each other," the Third commented as Sakura turned her attention back to him.

"I do work at the hospital back in Konoha, so I know almost everyone," she replied. "I am honored that the Kazekage himself had come to greet me."

The Third smirked, "They call you the Flower of Konoha, the blossom that survived in the Team with the Kyuubi Host and the son of the Uchiha Clan Leader. You saved numerous shinobis that were deemed lost causes."

"All in a day's work!" Sakura grinned, "But I am more of a weed, if you'd ask me. Flowers are too fragile. It takes a lot more to get rid of me."

"I see," the Third began walking and beckoned her to follow. "I have no doubt in your abilities."

The kunoichi looked at him from the corner of her eyes and held herself back from giving a sassy retort. It would not do if she upsetted the Kazekage with her big mouth, ruined any scrap of political peace between the two villages, and probably get killed. Thus, Sakura chose to give the Third one of her brighter smiles, "Only the best for Suna. Technically, Tsunade-sama is the best, but she is the Hokage… so here I am!"

The Kazekage smiled despite himself. He knew then and there that he would enjoy the meetings that he would have with this Konoha-nin. The two of them continued to converse about trivial things as he lead them deeper into the village's center.

The buildings in Suna all looked eerily similar - round, dome-like structures made from limestone that varied from light brown to a different light brown. Wind blew in from the openings of the stone wall that surrounded the village, stirring up dust in the main streets. Luckily, it was evening and the sun was no longer beating down on the village with its harsh rays.

" _It's definitely different from home,_ " thought Sakura, " _But I'd take this sandy wind than the endless rain in Ame._ "

The Kazekage stopped in front of a small rectangular shaped building and broke Sakura from her musings. He produced a key, made from his iron sand, and unlocked the door. They entered a small living room with an open kitchen. Two doors against the walls led to the bathroom and bedroom.

"This will be your accommodation during the exchange," the Third said as he dropped the key into Sakura's hands. "The larger building with the cross sign that we just passed is the hospital, where you will be spending the majority of your time. Please settle in. I have business to attend to at the Kazekage office. A chunin will be here shortly to take you to my office. She will also be responsible for answering your questions and providing you with assistance as necessary."

Sakura nodded as the man let himself out. She entered the bedroom and was glad to see that the queen sized bed appeared freshly made. She set her pack down by the foot of the bed, keeping only the essential weapon and medic pouches on her body. Then she went to the bathroom to find it fully stocked - it slightly bothered her than whoever stocked deemed that "Cherry Blossom" themed body wash, shampoo, and conditioner were her style. Luckily, Sakura was well prepared for this trip as she took out her own scentless set and exchanged them with the flowerly set.

A few minutes after the kunoichi finished putting her extra clothes away into the empty dresser, a knock was heard on the front door. Sakura opened the door and looked down at a shorter girl with light brown hair that reached her shoulders. A headband donning Suna's symbol was tied around her neck.

"Hello, I am Maki, the chunin assigned to take care of you during your stay here." The girl was friendly as she held out a hand to Sakura, who shook it firmly.

"Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you, Maki-chan."

The girl blushed. "Haruno-san, please follow me, Kazekage-sama is waiting for you at his office."

"Just Sakura is fine," the pinkette smiled as they walked out into the windy street.

The sun was starting to set, turning the sky a beautiful pink hue. There were fewer people on the streets and Sakura noted that the air was slowly turning quite chilly. Lights were starting to illuminate many of the buildings' round windows. The Kazekage tower was relatively far from where Sakura was staying, but it made sense to have the hospital further away from the Kazekage tower, since it meant that potential attacks on the Kazekage tower would cause less collateral damage to the hospital.

Sakura noted that the Kazekage tower looked just like a bigger version of the other buildings in Suna, except for the large "Wind" symbol etched onto the side. It was definitely much less impressive than the Hokage Tower and Hokage Mountain, but there was no way she was going to say that comment aloud.

Two Jounins greeted the pair at the door and Maki quietly lead Sakura up the stairs to the Kazekage's office. She knocked on the door gently and the Third's voice rang out, allowing Sakura entrance.

The Konoha-nin entered alone, leaving the chunin to wait for her outside. Sakura noted that the Third sat behind a desk similar to her Shisou's and that another figure was also in the room. However, her back was facing Sakura, alluding her of the person's identity.

"Sakura-san, I hope everything was to your liking," greeted the Kazekage as the kunoichi came closer.

"Yes, thank you for the kind hospitality." Sakura heard a small snicker from the figure next to her, but ignored it. She noted that it was an old woman that reached a little below her shoulder in height. Her lavender hair, probably faded from age, was in a eerily round bun on top of her head. She was dressed in the similar pocho and cloak as some of the villagers that she saw when she first entered the village.

"Let me introduce you to Chiyo-Baa-Sama, one of Suna's respected elder and residential poison master," the Kazekage gestured to the woman, "She will be the one to teach you about Suna's poisons in exchange for your medical knowledge at the hospital."

He then gestured to Sakura, "And Chiyo-Baa-Sama, this is Sakura Haruno -"

The old woman interrupted him, "Princess Tsunade's apprentice."

Sakura lifted an eyebrow, "You know of my Shisou's nickname?"

"She was the brat who countered every single one of my poisons. I don't understand why you need to come here to learn from me if you have that brat as your teacher," sneered Chiyo.

Sakura felt the fine hairs on her arms bristle in retaliation, but she calmed herself down, much to the amusement of the Third Kazekage. "Chiyo-sama, please do not call my Shishou a brat in my presence. It is very disrespectful. She is also the current Hokage, I assure you that Konoha shinobi will not take that disrespect kindly if it ever happens again."

Chiyo narrowed her eyes, " _How times have changed. A little girl is challenging me, an Elder._ "

"Furthermore, it is true that Tsunade-sama had been able to counter your poisons during the war. But that was no easy task. You are not called a poison master for no reason. This is why I am excited to learn from you. I hope there will be no animosity between us, from here on out," Sakura finished as she held out her hand.

Chiyo looked at the hand, back at her Kage with his gleaming eyes, then finally grasped the girl's hand in a firm shake. "Fine."

Maki was swinging herself on the balls of her feet when a figure appeared in front of her. A small squeak escaped her mouth before she realized who was standing right before her. A man, a full head and a half taller than her, gave her a quick glance and then looked at the closed door behind her.

"Sasori-sama," Maki greeted meekly, "Kazekage-sama is in a meeting right now."

"The Konoha medic-nin," Sasori said matter-of-factly.

"Yes!" the chunin smiled a little, "I am her aid while she is here."

"I know." He was still staring at the door.

"Um… They should be done soon, do you want to wait here?"

"No." Sasori stated. " _Chiyo-Baa is in there._ " He gestured for Maki to hold out her hands and dropped a relatively heavy scroll into her palms. "Give this to Kazekage-sama after the meeting ends." With that, he left just as quietly as he came.

Maki shuddered as she held the scroll closer to herself. Sasori… Akasuna no Sasori was a good-looking man and was known to be the second strongest shinobi of Suna. Some even dared to say he was stronger than the Kazekage himself. But unlike the Kazekage, he was cold. No, not cold. He was distant. It was as if he he built a wall around himself and no one could enter his world, except for the Kazekage. People also feared him because he was the creator of the Human Puppet technique and many of Suna's special shinobis were "immortalized" by him after they perished on missions.

The chunin stared at his retreating form and whispered to herself, "Better not piss him off, I don't want to be a puppet."

Maki was startled once more when a firm hand touched her shoulder. She whipped around and relaxed when bright green eyes looked back at her.

"Haha, sorry for scaring you," Sakura smiled, "We just finished talking. Can you lead me back to the apartment? I promise I will remember my way after today."

Maki nodded, "Let me pass this to Kazekage-sama real quick." She showed the Konoha-nin the scroll that Sasori just gave her and entered the office.

Sakura looked at the direction where she barely saw a figure disappear from. She turned to Chiyo, who came out the same time she did.

"Who was that?"

Chiyo's sad expression did not escape Sakura's eyes. "Maybe you will meet him. If he wants to meet you."

Later that night, Sakura rolled to her side on her comfy new bed. She had just finished writing a letter back home to announce her safe arrival and to threaten Naruto and Sasuke to behave while she was gone. She also planned out her lesson plan ideas and decided that she would adjust it as the needs arise.

During the meeting, the Third explained that during the weekdays, she would be responsible for teaching and assisting in the hospital. Then at night, Chiyo-sama would meet her at Suna's greenhouse for their one-on-one lessons on poisons and herbs. On Saturdays, she would meet with the Kazekage himself to discuss whatevers - she assumed mostly political stuffs and updates on her work in the hospital. On Sundays, she was a free woman to do as her please, with the limitations of not destroying Suna's training grounds with her inhumane strength.

" _At this rate, three months would be gone before I know it,_ " Sakura mused as snuggled into her bed and fell into a restful slumber.


	3. Chapter 2: Chiyo

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 2: Chiyo**

"Sakura-sensei, can't you teach us how to make the chakra scalpel?"

"Sakura-sensei, is it true that you can fracture a skull with the tap of your pinky?"

"Sakura-sensei, teach us some battle medical ninjutsus!"

"Sakura-sensei!" "Sakura-sensei!" "Sakura-sensei!"

Sakura groaned as she rested her head on her arms as she slumped over the small coffee table in the break room of the hospital. She arrived to the hospital bright and early, with a cheerful smile and lively hop in her step - only to be mobbed by the younger medic-nins who threw questions after questions at her. It would not have been so terrible if they had asked useful questions, but no, they were asking questions that were completely irrelevant or way beyond their levels of experience.

Thus, being who she was, Sakura snapped and terrorized the group when she snapped a metal table in half with one slam on the table. The crowd immediately quieted down and Sakura was finally able to begin her introduction and present her agenda for the three months that she would be in Suna. She would begin the first day with a quick assessment of each student's skills and adjust the agenda as needed, with the input of what the students wanted to learn. She had set the crowd free for lunch and they would reconvene for the assessment.

When she left the lecture room, she immediately heard the gossips that had already spread across the small hospital. She heard whispers of "demon", "monstrous", "scary", and so fourth. Sakura groaned again. That was not the impression that she wanted to give her students. It was enough that Konoha-nins feared her; now, even Suna-nins were terrified of her.

A small cup of lemon tea was placed in front of her face and Sakura looked up to see a man, probably twice her age, smiling at her.

"Sakura-sensei," he greeted, "I am Tomoe."

"Sakura-san is fine. You are the leader of Suna's medical ninjas," she took a sip of the tea, "Thank you."

"Don't worry about the rumors, they will die down soon. I am glad you got those rowdy kids under control so quickly."

Sakura sighed, "I didn't mean to yell at them, but they were too much." " _I am only used to five rowdy kids at once… Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, Rin, and Kakashi. Heck, Kakashi doesn't even really count._ "

"They were just really excited to finally meet you, the Great Sakura Haruno. You are one of the best medical ninjas in the world and to learn from you is an honor. Even I am honored to see you in action."

"Don't say that, Tomoe-san! You have so much more experience than me!"

Tomoe smiled gently, "You are being humble. I will not disregard talent when I see it."

Sakura blushed lightly. This man must be very good with his patients, with his calming deposition and all. She stood up from the table and readjusted her headband, "Time to get back to work!"

After the assessment was completed, Sakura sorted the students into three groups. Those with the weakest chakra control had to train their chakra by walking on the side of the hospital against the roaring winds. Those with slightly better abilities practiced with molding water. And those with the best control practiced with healing small animals.

"Control is everything," Sakura bellowed. "Once you have control, healing will become more efficient. After you are satisfied with your effectiveness and efficiency with medical-ninjutsu is the ONLY time when you can begin considering offensive medical ninjutsus."

One student who had his hands dripping with water looked at her, "Sensei, I know we need to practice control right now. But can you let us know what offensive medical ninjutsu could possibly do? Besides chakra scalpels?"

Sakura tapped her chin. " _So they don't know how my strength are chakra enhanced..._ " "Well. Medical ninjutsus manipulate the body. You can destroy someone's nervous system, combust internal organs, induce hell-like fever… and so forth… with a touch of your hand."

The students gulped nervously.

"This is why shinobis should never underestimate a highly skilled medical shinobi," Sakura smirked, sending a shiver down the students' spines. "One touch from me and you are gone."

 **Later that evening**

After lessons were over for the day and the wiped out students left the hospital, Sakura conversed with some of the residential medical-nins on how to improve the hospital's efficiency. They took her words to heart and began discussing on how to put some of Sakura's suggestions into effect.

Not long after that, Sakura met up with Maki at the front of the hospital and was led to the greenhouse where Chiyo was waiting for her.

Sakura noted that the greenhouse was large and quite impressive. The people tended to the herbs and plants very well; the varieties and amounts were comparable to those back in Konoha's greenhouse.

"Shocking?" Chiyo said sarcastically as Sakura walked towards her.

"Yes. I am surprised that this greenhouse is thriving in the desert," Sakura nodded as she examined one herb that was growing on the crevice of an artificial mountain.

Chiyo looked up at the glass ceiling longingly, "I helped design this place at the start of the last Great Shinobi World War."

Sakura stared at the Elder with respect, "You did an amazing job."

Chiyo looked back at the girl who continued to poke at different herbs along the artificial mountain. " _Maybe this wouldn't be too bad afterall._ "

"So where do we start?" Sakura grinned.

Chiyo fished out a scroll from her long sleeves and passed it to Sakura, who unrolled it to find a long list of herbs and plant names and their physical descriptions. There was a blank column titled "effects" and another titled "life cycle and care".

"This is the known list of herbs and plants in Suna. These are for both medicinal and poisonous uses. I want you to complete the blank columns to the best of your abilities and we will go from there."

Sakura grinned at the huge scroll, "It'd be my pleasure!"

A few hours later, just as the sun began to set, Sakura woke Chiyo who had fallen asleep as she worked. "I've completed about three fourths of the list, Chiyo-sama."

The Elder rubbed the drool that threatened to escape her lips and blinked the sleep from her eyes. "Already?" slipped out of her mouth.

Sakura nodded, "I would continue, but the sun is slowly setting. We should get dinner soon."

Chiyo took the scroll and hid her surprise when she saw the neat and complete hand-writings of the Konoha-nin before her. "Nerd."

"I was, once!" Sakura giggled as she helped the old woman stand up.

"You are paying for dinner right, child?" Chiyo asked as she hid the scroll up her sleeves once more.

"Of course, Chiyo-sama."

* * *

Chiyo stuffed another dango into her mouth as Sakura ordered another bowl of anmitsu. "For a Konoha-nin, you sure have good taste in food."

"I didn't expect Suna to have such a great dessert place, Chiyo-sama!"

Chiyo smiled softly as she watched Sakura eat with a childish grin. The last time she was at this restaurant with company was years and years ago - when Sasori asked to eat sweets after he saw a couple surprise their child with a lollipop. She knew Sasori still visited this establishment on his own, but she never saw him. She knew it was because he didn't want to see her, but the owner updated her whenever she saw Sasori.

"You seem sad," Sakura commented softly when Chiyo didn't reply to her comment with a snarky remark.

"Just reminiscing. Old people stuff that you won't understand."

"I am not that young!" Sakura muttered.

"How old are you child?"

"20," Sakura grinned.

"You are younger than my grandson, I'd say you are pretty young."

Sakura lifted an eyebrow when Chiyo's tone changed at the mention of her grandson. She knew that Chiyo was the grandmother of one of Suna's elite - Akasuna no Sasori. He was the Itachi of Suna; a formidable foe during the later part of the last Great Shinobi World War. He bathed the sand of Suna with his enemies' blood. Sakura shuddered. She also heard rumors, from the shinobis who barely escaped his wrath during battles, that he had the ability to turn corpses into human puppets. She wanted to meet this man, but she highly doubt that their path would cross. He was one of Suna's top ANBU operatives, there was no reason for them to meet.

But something nagged at Sakura. If Chiyo was Sasori's grandmother, why did Chiyo seem so sad when he was mentioned? Sakura was dying to ask, in order to satisfy her curiosity, but she didn't have the heart to bring it up when she could tell that Sasori was a sensitive topic for the Elder.

She sneakily stole one of the dango dumplings from Chiyo, "Let's come every Monday after our lessons, Chiyo-sama."

"Every Monday?" Chiyo quirked an eyebrow.

"We can't possibly come every day!" Sakura smiled.


	4. Chapter 3: Week Two

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 3: Week Two**

The Third Kazekage looked up from the report that he had just finished reading, "It seems that everything went smoothly this week."

Sakura nodded, "Yes. I am having the students continue to practice their control whenever they have time. The ones who I deem sufficient for my standard are doing more in depth training with me next week. I just hope that the shinobi at the hospitals wouldn't mind being our guinea pigs. I already spoke with the more experienced medical-nins and they are willing to cooperate. I also plan on teaching offensive medical ninjutsu theories soon and teaching the basics of chakra scalpels to those with better chakra control."

"How are your sessions with Chiyo-Baa-Sama?"

The kunoichi grinned sheepishly as she scratched her head, "Well, it was going great until I told her that I was the medic who saved Sakumo Hatake's life..."

The Third already knew that information from reading her file; it was not everyday someone saved someone who had their guts spilling out of their body. He had not told Chiyo since she would never agree to teach the Konoha-nin if she knew that she saved the murderer of her son and daughter-in-law.

"How did she take that?" the Third asked out of curiosity.

Sakura narrowed her eyes a small fraction, "I guess you already knew Hatake-san killed Chiyo-sama's son and daughter-in-law during the war."

He did not reply.

Sakura sighed, "I don't even remember how we got on that topic, but Chiyo-sama was so shocked when I told her. It was sort of sad when she gave me this look of utter betrayal, but there was nothing to say. I performed my duties. Hatake-san performed his duties. Her son and daughter-in-law performed their duties."

"And?"

"Chiyo-sama is wise, Kazekage-sama. She understood," Sakura answered softly, "We left it at that."

"Sakura-san?" He used a tone similar to how parents spoke when they disciplined a lying child.

The pinkette sighed, "Fine. After I explained that it was all done in the name of duty, she got really quiet. Then she threw a pot of cactus at me, which I dodged, and then she said it was all in the past."

The Third let out a small chuckle and rolled up Sakura's report. "Other than this report, how are you liking Suna?"

" _The Kazekage wants small talk?_ " The medic-nin shrugged, "It's definitely different from Konoha, but it's not that bad. I thought it would be really hot, being in the desert and all, but the wind brings a nice breeze. Everyone is hospitable. Maki-chan is taking me to look around after this meeting. She is going to show me the sights, so I am pretty excited for that."

"I see."

"Can I be dismissed now? Maki-chan has been waiting outside the door for a bit now. I'm sure the ANBU outside your window is getting impatient, too," Sakura stared at the window behind the silver eyed man's head

He smirked, "Of course. See you next week, Sakura-san."

The moment Sakura exited the room, Sasori leapt in through the window. He passed a scroll into the Kazekage's hand without missing a beat.

"How are you, Sasori?"

"The same."

The Third smiled in satisfaction after reading the scroll. He put it aside for the chunins to sort into the archive later. "Would you like to meet her? The savior of your parents' murderer?"

Honey eyes glazed over, "It was as she said. Everything happened in the name of duty."

"Are you sure? She is quite a picture to look at. She can also handle your grandmother, which is quite a feat in itself."

Sasori stared at the Third's smile, "Aren't you too old for her, Kazekage-sama."

The Kage feigned a hurt expression. "You wound me."

 **The next day**

Maki stared in bewilderment as Sakura walked around the market with three heavy bags of groceries on each arm. The pinkette had offered to carry everything and Maki was shocked that she literally meant everything.

It was Sakura's second Sunday in Suna and some of the supplies in her apartment were running low - especially groceries. Thus, she had asked Maki to take her to the marketplace to stock up. Sakura enjoyed eating out, but she couldn't let her cooking skill deteriorate. Besides, she had invited Maki, Tomoe, and Chiyo to have dinner at the apartment tonight. To her surprise, Chiyo agreed to the offer without a fuss.

"Are you going to make Konoha's specialties?" Maki asked as they walked back to the apartment.

"Yeah. I hope you will like it!" Sakura grinned as she unlocked the door. She set all the bags down and began to sort everything into their rightful place.

"Would you need help preparing?"

Sakura shook her head. "I can handle it. Thanks for going shopping with me. I will see you tonight!"

Maki nodded and left the apartment. She had made lunch plans with her teammates and she was already running late. Her teammates were super jealous when they learned that she was the one to be in charge of the Konoha-nin.

At first, some people were weary of Sakura being in Suna. They feared that she might be a spy or break Konoha's end of the bargain, but so far, she had been nothing but a model exchange representative. Heck, some of the male shinobis, who always resisted going to the hospital, started showing up for the most random and most minor of injuries. Of course, Sakura had always thrown the male medic-nins into the exam rooms to deal with them.

 **Later that night**

"Konoha-nins seem to enjoy a variety of vegetables in their meals," Tomoe noted as he set down his chopsticks.

Sakura nodded at the man. "It was difficult to acquire these vegetables. After all, Suna probably imported them, unlike Konoha who could grow them."

Maki piped up, "They were really expensive! Sakura-san spent a fortune on us tonight!"

Sakura waved her hand dismissively, "Trust me. It was still cheaper to cook than to eat out."

Chiyo looked at Sakura and asked offhandedly, "Does Konoha medic-nin get paid really well?"

Tomoe rolled his eyes at the Elder and she flung a piece of veggie at his face. Maki covered her face in horror while Sakura ignored it.

"Well, I go on missions quite often. I am not only a medical ninja, Chiyo-sama."

"I heard you are an amazing combat ninja as well!" Maki shouted, "I really want to see you in action!"

Sakura laughed a little nervously. "My combat style isn't the most subtle. I don't think your Kazekage would appreciate having his training grounds destroyed."

Maki had a dreamy gleam in her eyes, "It would be so cool to see you fight with Kazekage-sama."

Chiyo quirked an eyebrow and Sakura immediately held her hands up, "Hey, slow down there! I am just a jounin from Konoha. There is no way I am picking a fight with your Kazekage. Not even a friendly spar, I am going to die."

Tomoe knocked the back of Maki's head gently, "Don't even say something like that. You could get Sakura-san into lots of trouble."

The girl nodded submissively with a pout on her face. Sakura smiled gently. It had been a while since she last had a good spar. She could feel her body growing restless. It was good that she was working on her medical ninjutsus and learning from Chiyo, but she was aching to feel an adrenaline rush. Maybe she should go find someone to spar with.

Chiyo eyed the girl from the corner of her eyes. Perhaps a fight between her and the Kage would be interesting, but if the girl wins, she might as well have died during the spar. Besides, a spar would not be the same as a real battle. There was no doubt that Sakura would use her medical ninjutsus in battle, but she would not use that in a mock battle. Same went for the Kage, there was no way he would use his ultimate iron sand technique on a "friendly" spar with a foreign-nin. The only people who ever witnessed that power were either highly ranked Suna shinobis or they were… dead.

After another half hour of friendly chatter, Sakura began collecting the dishes and brought them to the kitchen to wash. Chiyo eyed the two other guests, then back at Sakura. She mused that the Konoha kunoichi used a small scaled water ninjutsu to wash her dishes.

"Sakura, could I talk to you in private please?"

Green eyes gleamed with curiosity as she dried the dishes, "Sure." She looked at Tomoe and Maki, who both nodded and told her goodbye.

Sakura brought a piping hot green tea to Chiyo, who was still seated at the table. The Elder appreciated the gesture but did not say a word to indicate so.

"What's up?" The pinkette asked as she stretched out her arms behind her back.

"You know, you got the short end of the bargain, right?" Chiyo said as she breathed in the warm steam.

"What do you mean?"

"Konoha sent one of their best, all the way here, into foreign territory. But all they got in return is this washed-up old coot."

Sakura frowned, "You are not a washed-up old coot, Chiyo-sama. You are one of Suna's Elder. You lived through two Great Shinobi World Wars and is the poison master that gave challenge to my Shisou during the war."

Chiyo sighed, "All villages have their secrets. I am not the poison master of Suna anymore. I haven't created any new poisons or completed new research since the war ended. All the things I've taught you were old, which was why there was so little to teach. You also learned faster than I expected."

"But you did teach me things that I didn't know about!"

"Ah, but that was barely anything. I don't have any new material for our sessions anymore. Unless we want to start testing out some of the poison theories we discussed, but I doubt the Third would let us do that."

"I am sure that we will find something to do," Sakura smiled encouragingly. She did not like the forlorn look on the usually sassy Elder's face.

"There was something that I wanted to ask the Kazekage. There is someone who could teach you. He is the current poison master of Suna, but his knowledge of poison is kept subtle. After all, he is one of Suna's best shinobi and it would be in our best interest to keep his talent a secret from other villages. But now, I believe that having him teach you would only be fair on our side of the bargain."

"Could this person be..."

"Sasori, my grandson."


	5. Chapter 4: Enter Sasori

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 4: Enter Sasori**

The Third Kazekage blinked at the Elder standing in front of him. He slowly plopped his arms up and rested his chin on top and a smirk grew on his face. The woman did not like the way his eyes gleamed - it usually meant he was up to no good.

"You want Sasori to take your place as Sakura-san's sensei?"

Chiyo nodded. "We all know the bargain was unfair to begin with. Sakura has a lot of potential and I honestly have nothing more to teach. I retired years ago, Kazekage-sama. I was surprised that Konoha agreed to the exchange in the first place. Sakura is teaching our ninjas to use chakra scalpels! That's one of the hardest medical ninjutsus to master."

"She has plenty of other offensive medical ninjutsus that she wouldn't be sharing with us."

Chiyo sighed, "Sasori doesn't have to teach her everything he knows either."

The Third was surprised by the Elder's assertion, but he did not show it. He gestured to the window behind him, "Why don't you ask him yourself then?"

At the signal, Sasori jumped into the room. His eyes were looking anywhere but at Chiyo. The Elder had not seen her grandson this close for a few years now. He had not changed much since she last saw him, but it still hurt that he no longer spoke to her. She looked straight at him, loss for words.

"What do you say, Sasori?" the Third asked with a teasing note in his voice.

The red haired man held out a vial with purple liquid sloshing in it. Chiyo took it from his hands with her chakra strings.

"This is one of my poisons. If she could create an antidote to it, then I will teach her. You could help her if you'd like, but I doubt you would be of help."

Chiyo looked at the poison in her hands. "She can do it. I give her two days."

Sasori raised an eyebrow while the Third smiled to himself. " _Things are going to be interesting._ "

Sakura held the vial to her eye level and twirled it, moving the dangerous liquid around. "Did he say anything else?" She asked as she sat down on the lab bench inside the greenhouse. Maki had disappeared to get live rodents for Sakura to use.

Chiyo sighed, "He is like that. I told him all you need is two days."

"Eh?!" Sakura exclaimed as Maki came running back with two cages of desert mice in her hands.

"I know you can do it," Chiyo said with certainty.

"I know I can do it, too," Sakura replied back with confidence and a friendly wink.

 **Two days later**

Sasori stood to attention as the Third perused his latest report. The next chunin exam would be held in Suna and the Kazekage had asked him to manage the jounins that were in charge of securing the final battle arena.

"All looks good, glad that you are so meticulous," the Third grinned. He had no doubt that the jounins hated how detail-oriented the red head was, but they would not dare to complain.

"Sometimes I feel like you only keep me around to do the "bad guy" work," Sasori commented.

The Kage grinned, "Only sometimes, Sasori."

The younger man looked around the room, "Chiyo-Baa isn't here. I assume that the kunoichi had failed my test?"

A vial with a slightly thick, pale yellow substance was suddenly tossed at him and he grabbed it with his chakra strings. "You will be starting tonight."

Sasori stared at the vial in his palms. "Have you tested it?"

"She tested it on herself and I saw it with my own eyes. Your grandmother gave her a nasty lecture for that stunt."

Honey eyes snapped up. " _Maybe this won't be a waste of my time._ "

Sasori frequented the greenhouse for his own studies and research, but after he knew of the exchange program, he came as sparingly as possible and avoided anytime that would conflict with Chiyo and Sakura's lessons. He touched some of the plants with a tender stroke as he walked in deeper towards the lab bench area.

He was slowly growing impatient as he waited. The kunoichi was twenty minutes late. He was told that their lessons began at six sharp and ended at nine, give or take. Just as he was about to do his own herb collecting, a figure ran in through the greenhouse doors. Her long pink hair was tied back into a ponytail and she was dashing towards him. He noted that her clothes were slightly tousled.

"I am so sorry!" She shouted as she bowed in apology. "A patient came in with a severed arm. It was the perfect opportunity to show the students how reattaching a limb works!"

When she finally looked up, bright green eyes seared against his honey ones. Sasori did not believe in love at first sight; that was child play. But he could not deny that the Kazekage was right. The Konoha kunoichi was beautiful to look at. Her features were well balanced, accordingly to his artistic eyes. Her color combination was quite overwhelming, but it suited her and he already knew that Konoha was known for ninjas with ridiculous color schemes.

"You are not Chiyo-sama," Sakura stated as she finally noticed the figure in front of her was taller than her and was not yelling at her for her tardiness...

The man in front of her had red hair and lazy honey brown eyes. He had a charming, boyish face, but Sakura knew he was at least a few years older than her. His skin was relatively pale and he had a distant look on his face. She found him quite pretty for a man, but she was immune to flower boys from her overdose of attractive Uchihas back home. From the way he was looking at her, she knew he was sizing her up, too.

"Sasori-sama," Sakura greeted immediately, "I apologize again for being late."

"Haruno-san." As much as Sasori despised waiting, the kunoichi had an understandable reason for being late. But her mentions of reattaching an arm did trigger some unwanted memories in the back of his mind.

"Just Sakura is fine! This means you approved of my antidote, right?" Sakura smiled.

Sasori liked her smile, but he was not going to tell her that.

"I heard you tested it on yourself."

"Well, I knew you would want proof, so yeah," Sakura replied as Sasori gestured for her to sit by the lab bench. "It was really difficult, you know! I can't believe Chiyo-sama promised two days without telling me. I worked an all-nighter the first day! The poison was so complicated that any small mistakes could have killed me."

Sasori noted her cheerfulness for future references. "It takes me effort to create antidotes for that poison as well."

She blinked at his semi-compliment. "Thank you." His voice was really nice and she fought hard to fight down her blush. " _This is no time to appreciate this guy, who probably could kill me in the blink of an eye!_ "

"So what are we doing?"

The man took out a scroll, in a manner similar to his grandmother's, and handed it to Sakura. "I want you to study this list of herbs on your own. I will be doing my own work while you do that. Feel free to ask me questions as they arise."

Sakura gawked at him as he swiftly stood up and disappeared into another part of the greenhouse. She opened the scroll, only to find a foreign list of herbs and their potential uses as poisons. It was going to be a long night.

It took the Konoha kunoichi several days to complete going through the scroll. She had taken notes during her studies and never hesitated to ask questions. Sasori was also able to get much of his work done, making up the time that he lost from avoiding his grandmother. Truth be told, he quite enjoyed their lessons. The girl asked him intelligent questions and was genuinely interested in what he had to say. He told her that they could discuss more poison theories and his newer research once she finished the scroll. Her little victory dance, after she completed the scroll, almost made Sasori smile.

The Suna-nin was true to his words. After he awarded the scroll to Sakura for her hard work, he began discussing poison theories with her. He talked about his newest research and she would challenge him with questions and give him suggestions from her point of view. Sasori did not admit it out loud, but he took some of her advice to heart as he continued his work.

He found himself looking forward to their sessions as time went on. Sakura was able to hold conversations with him and she was also very polite. She was talkative and he was entertained by her antics. Most of all, he appreciated how she was not afraid of him. Sasori knew that she was well aware of his abilities as a shinobi, but she must be confident enough in her own skills as a kunoichi as well. Or she was just naive, probably the former.

Sakura groaned as she stretched out on the lab bench as Sasori grinded some herbs with a mortar and pestle. She was in the middle of analyzing one of his newer creations and trying to find the component that caused the toxicity of the mixture. An unidentifiable sound escaped from her throat.

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "Too much for you to handle?" he asked.

Sakura shrugged, "Not really. But it does take time to pinpoint the exact problem. I don't like making mistakes!"

Sasori nodded in approval.

The pinkette sat up and stared at him with sparkling eyes, "I am amazed that you discovered all of this on your own!"

"I started when I was 13."

"Wow, I barely survived my first chunin exam at that age," Sakura smiled in admiration.

"I already learned all that Chiyo-Baa could offer, so I needed to learn on my own."

Sakura rested her chin on one hand. "I don't mean to be rude, but I notice you and Chiyo-sama seem distant from each other."

He stopped his hand motions.

"Did something happen?" Sakura asked softly and Sasori met her concerned eyes.

"You shouldn't put your nose into other people's business."

"I thought that we are friends by now, you know? I just want to make sure my friend and his grandmother are okay." Sakura grabbed his hands and she was glad that he didn't pull away. "You always look so betrayed when she is in the room. I don't like seeing you like that."

Sasori stared at her, "She lied to me."

Sakura waited as Sasori took in a deep breath, "She kept my parents' deaths a secret from me for years, until I eventually found out the truth."

The kunoichi released his hands. She had pretty much figured out there was an issue between the two puppeteers, but she did not expect this. "Had she apologized to you?"

"No, I never gave her a chance to."

Sakura rolled her eyes. By now, it was obvious to her that Chiyo and Sasori still cared about each other, but were both too stubborn to make things right again. Sasori was avoiding Chiyo and she was letting him. That was when an idea struck her.

"Hey, want to arm wrestle with me?"

Sasori narrowed his eyes.

"No chakra enhancement, I promise. If I win, you take me out to this dessert place I like." Sakura began clearing the table and removing objects away from the battlefield.

"And if I win?"

Sakura laughed as she rolled up her sleeve and Sasori eyed her with distrust.

"Sakura-chan! Same table as always?" the restaurant owner greeted as the two shinobi entered the store.

"Yes please! One extra chair today!" Sakura grinned as she pulled Sasori into the back of the store with her.

"Sasori-kun," the owner greeted the man as well, after pulling up another chair for him.

"You come here often?"

Sakura nodded.

"With who..."

Before he could finish asking, his eyes caught his grandmother's figure at the entrance of the store. Chiyo froze and Sakura could feel Sasori attempt to leave. She grabbed his arm and yanked him into a chair. "You lost, fair and square."

"You did not mention my grandmother was coming," he hissed.

"Chiyo-sama and I always meet here on Monday nights," Sakura smiled as she waved at the Elder, who gingerly walked up to them.

"Chiyo-sama!" Sakura was beaming.

"Sakura." the Elder looked at her grandson, "Sasori."

Sakura poked Sasori under the table and he sighed, "Chiyo-Baa."

The Konoha kunoichi clapped her hands together, "Okay. I understand that you two had a misunderstanding, so feel free to ignore each other while we eat. But I like spending time with Chiyo-sama and Sasori-san, so excuse me for being selfish for wanting both of your company at once!"

Sasori's eyebrow twitched and Chiyo held back a small laugh. She looked at her grandson, "It is nice to eat at the same table with you again, Sasori."

The red head did not reply.

Dinner was strangely not awkward. Sasori behaved himself and participated in light conversation with both Sakura and his grandmother. Chiyo noted that he mostly focused on Sakura, but at least he was trying to be polite with her. When they finished eating, she was surprised that Sasori paid for the entire bill. Sakura tried to explain something about a bet, but Sasori clamped her mouth shut, much to Chiyo's surprise.

"I guess this is it, I should go back to sleep soon," Sakura yawned as she stood up.

Chiyo nodded in agreement, but before she could get up, Sasori spoke, "Can I speak with you in private, Chiyo-Baa?"

The Elder was surprised while Sakura smiled. "See you tomorrow, Sasori. Good night, Chiyo-sama."

After Sakura was long gone and an uncomfortable silence grew between the grandmother and her grandson, Sasori finally spoke again.

"Are you sorry?"

That took Chiyo by surprise. She lowered her eyes, "Everyday. I am sorry, Sasori. I thought what I did was protecting you. I was foolish and only prolonged the inevitable. I should have been honest from the very beginning. You are a smart child, you would have understood."

Sasori fisted his hands under the table. The anger and betrayal that he felt towards his grandmother had faded as he grew up. When he was younger, he was frustrated that she withheld the truth from him, as if he was a baby who still needed protection. But as a grown man, he understood where her intentions stemmed from. It was not the brightest idea, but it was her way of caring for him. He looked up, straight into his grandmother's eyes. "I forgive you."

Tears welled in Chiyo's eyes as she leaned across the table and semi-hugged Sasori. It has been more than a decade since she last held him. Sasori awkwardly petted his grandmother's back. He was not accustomed to physical affection after he had distanced himself from everyone, but he did not mind it.

Sakura was brushing her hair on her bed when she felt the presence by her window. She set her brush down and smiled when Sasori let himself in. He picked up the brush and continued where the pinkette left off. Her hair was as soft as Sasori imagined it to be.

"Wasn't so bad was it?" Sakura asked.

"I was upset at her for so long that I didn't even notice when my anger had faded with time."

"Sometimes people just need a push. I had a cold war with one of my best friends, too, and it was over a measly crush. It took a big push from my other friends and a certain near death experience before we rekindled our friendship."

Sasori set down the brush and stood away from the bed, "By the way, Sakura. If you ever mention our little match to anyone, I will test my new poison theories on you."

A small laugh escaped her throat as he jumped out her window.


	6. Chapter 5: Prosthetic Limb

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 5: Prosthetic Limb**

Sakura laughed as she hugged the three genins that had came to Suna for their first chunin exam. Naruto covered their smaller bodies as he leaned over them and joined the hug.

During her last meeting with the Third, he told her that he would like her assistance with the medical division for the chunin exam and in exchange, she was free from teaching at the hospital for a few days. Thus, she had ran to meet Naruto and his team at the first chance she got.

Obito and Rin were participating because Kakashi needed a team to compete with, but the entire team had the most hope in Kakashi for gaining a rank this year. Naruto was mainly excited because he wanted to see Sakura again, after so long with no pinkette in his life.

The competitors had already completed the first round of written exams and were preparing for the physical portion of the exams. Team Naruto was confident in their abilities, but Naruto wanted to squeeze a bit more training in before he sent his team off to the "Desert of Death" as he liked to dub it. Sakura had waved goodbye and wished them the best of luck.

Three days later, Sakura was proud to learn that Rin and Kakashi had made it to the semi finals. Obito accepted his fate and promised that he would train harder for the next exam.

She was currently sitting by the Kazekage as an honored guest and she waved to Naruto and Obito across the stadium. Sasori was wearing his complete ANBU regalia and was standing close by.

"Your friends?" the Third asked.

"Yes. My friend and his students." Sakura omitted the fact that Naruto was her former teammate because it would expose his identity as the Kyyubi's jinchurinki.

"I see his team is quite talented, two of three made it to the semifinals."

"And I swear at least one will rank up by the end of today," Sakura grinned.

"The best of luck."

At the end of the day, after several epic battles, four genins were receiving their respective awards for gaining a rank. Kakashi was confidently standing beside three genins that were older than him. Rin had a close fight, but her stamina gave out before her opponent's and she fainted from exhaustion.

The next day, after Rin recovered much of her energy, Team Naruto was set to leave Suna. Sakura went to sent them off prior to her meeting with the Kazekage.

"We will see you in another month or so, Sakura-chan! Stay okay, you hear me?" Naruto bellowed as he hugged his teammate tightly.

"Tell Sasuke and Ino I missed them," Sakura smiled as she waved goodbye and the team bounded out of the village walls.

When Sakura arrived at the Kazekage office, the Third was already waiting for her. "You were right about that silver haired kid."

"Kakashi-kun?" Sakura grinned, "He is quite talented. He is also the cutest thing ever."

"He gave me a death glare."

"Kakashi-kun does that. He has this crush on me, but I am sure he will grow out of it soon," Sakura commented dismissively, feigning ignorance to the curious gleam in the Third's eyes.

"Anyways, thank you for your assistance during the exams."

"It was my pleasure."

Sakura's active participation in the medical division was a political move for Suna and Konoha. Having one of Konoha's best assist in Suna's chunin exam, where shinobis from all villages could witness, was a simple way to show the other nations that Suna and Konoha were beginning to build an alliance. It was proof that peace could persist between nations and it was time that all villages work toward that goal. Sakura knew that, of course, and had been at her best behavior when interacting with foreign shinobis.

When Sakura entered the greenhouse later that evening, she found Sasori deep in thought. His eyes were unfocused and dreamy and her presence did not snap him out of it. He only came back to Earth when she called out his name.

She sat down next to him, "You know, watching those fights yesterday made me itch. I haven't sparred in a long long time!"

Sasori looked down at her, "Would you like to spar instead of working in the greenhouse tonight?"

Sakura stared at him owlishly. "You, ANBU elite, the Kazekage's right hand man, sparring with little me?"

The red head smirked, "Why not, you are a combat medic-nin. I overheard some of your students say you can end a man with one finger."

The pinkette flicked her hair, narrowly missing Sasori's face, "Please, I can end a man by literally or figuratively crushing his heart."

"We will see."

"Bring it."

That was how Chiyo found herself acting as the referee for her grandson and Sakura at training field 8.

"No chakra enhanced strength," Sasori stated.

"No poisons," Sakura bit back.

"Enough talk, let the battle begin!" Chiyo called.

Everything happened in blinding speed and Chiyo had to pay complete attention to follow the fight. The spar began with Sasori summoning one of his older human puppets who had earth and wind release - this former shinobi was known for creating rock projectiles and shooting them towards his opponents with razor sharp wind. Sakura snapped on her neglected combat gloves and positioned herself across from him.

The Suna-nin shouted, "Earth Style: Rock Splinter!" as small pieces of sharp rocks rose around his puppet. "Wind Style: Razor Wind!" A powerful gust blew from the puppet's mouth and the rocks flew toward Sakura at blinding speed. However, none even brushed against her skin as the Konoha-nin dodged each one with effortless grace.

Sasori narrowed his eyes as Sakura laughed, "You should not have underestimated a medic-nin's ability to dodge."

"Now let me return the favor!" she yelled as she punched the ground and lifted up a piece of earth triple her size and flung it towards Sasori. He maneuvered his puppet to blast the rock into pieces with another wind jutsu, but just as the bits fell to the ground, Sakura appeared in the debris and landed one punch directly on the puppet's body and dislodged the head and all its limbs.

She quickly somersaulted back as Sasori hissed, "I thought no chakra enhancement."

"It wasn't," Sakura winked as she flexed her fingers.

Chiyo shouted from the sidelines, "It was not! Fair hit!"

The red head growled as he dropped the puppet and pulled out a kunai. He flew towards Sakura, who barely had time to counter him before the kunai tore through her. They engaged in kunai-to-chakra scalpel combat. One clean slice from Sakura's scalpel, the kunai broke in half and Sasori immediately changed to pure taijutsu.

The two were attacking and blocking at frightening speeds. Sasori was slightly surprised that Sakura could keep up with him, since her priority as a ninja was medical work, but he expected no less from her. Her face was focused and beads of sweat were rolling down from her temple, from beneath her soft pink tresses and down against her firey green eyes. Just as he wondered how much greener her eyes could become, he suddenly felt a light jab at his side and he lost all feelings in his lower body.

Sakura flipped back once more and panted as Sasori struggled to comprehend what had happened. He was on the ground, with his hands barely saving him from a complete face-plant. The pinkette grinned, but her posture was still battle-ready, "Do you yield?"

Sasori considered his situation. He admitted that it was his fault for losing focus, but if this was a real battle, there were much more tactics up his sleeve. Still, he noticed how tired Sakura was becoming and they only agreed to a light spar to relieve her itch. He raised one of his hands, "I yield."

The Elder was surprised that her grandson had yielded. She had expected him to pull out some other trick and throw the girl off her game. But her confusion quickly faded as her grandmotherly instincts kicked in, there was still hope for her grandson.

Sakura walked back to Sasori's side, reversed the paralysis jutsu, and apologized for breaking the puppet as she helped Sasori pick up the pieces.

"I told you, one touch from me and it's over," Sakura said.

"I let you win," Sasori retorted back.

"I don't doubt that," The pinkette smiled, "And I mean it. I could tell you were holding back."

Sasori shrugged as he opened a storage scroll and sealed the broken puppet inside.

"This is my first time seeing it," Sakura stated as Chiyo came closer to them.

"See what?" Sasori asked he tossed the scroll into its hidden spot up his sleeve.

"A human puppet."

"It is his specialty," Chiyo commented, "He also invented prosthetic limbs with puppet parts."

Sasori got quiet and Sakura felt the change in the atmosphere. " _Shoot, must be a sensitive topic!_ "

Chiyo patted both their shoulders, "He should tell you about it himself." With that, she disappeared in a poof, leaving the younger nins by themselves.

Sakura sat down on the dirt ground, inwardly glad that she did not destroy much of the training field. She gestured for Sasori to join her and he did so without a fuss.

"I started with prosthetic limbs. An arm, to be precise." Sasori stared up into the night sky and Sakura was amazed by how many stars they could see.

"He was my only friend. But it was because of that arm that he died. I made a secret sword beneath the hand and it was coated with poison. He… he accidentally ingested it."

Sakura gripped Sasori's hand without moving her gaze away from the sky.

"There was no one like you around to save him..."

Sasori turned to face her, but Sakura did not make eye contact.

"He was my first human puppet."

At that sentence, she turned to face him. She saw all the sadness and regret in his eyes and reached out to hug him. He relaxed in her arms and they stayed like that for a long while. Sasori finally pulled back and Sakura gave him one of her warmest smiles.

"I began to make human puppets of shinobis with unique abilities. The puppets retain those abilities and immortalize those shinobis forever."

"That's some amazing talent if you ask me," Sakura said. "It might seem quite scary, but I think it's amazing how you can give life to those who died. I might be able to pull people back from the brink of death, but once they are gone… they are gone."

Sasori noticed her clenched fists but held his tongue.

They sat side by side for a little longer and Sasori felt Sakura shiver against his arm. "Let's go, it's getting cold."

"Yeah, it sucks we can't sit out all night," Sakura sighed wistfully, "I guess that's something I really miss about Konoha."

The pair got to their feet and Sasori offered to walk Sakura home. She was surprised, but appreciated his kind gesture nonetheless.

" _Only one month left._ " Sasori stared at the sky as he walked away from the apartment.

 **A few days later**

Three genins were crying outside one of the hospital rooms and it broke Sakura's heart to watch them. They reminded her so much of a painful memory that she tried so hard to forget.

It was Team 7's first C-ranked mission, but it had quickly escalated to a B-ranked. That was the first time that Sakura could not save a life. Their sensei was injured gravely and it was too late when the team arrived back to Konoha. She had used up too much chakra during the battle and did not have enough to sustain him until they could get home. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had to wait outside as ICU tried their best to bring him back, but he was a lost cause. She remembered how all three of them cried together and promised to become stronger together, so that no one would die again.

Sakura braced herself and walked up to the genins, "Your sensei will be fine. You three did your best and brought him back, he will be proud."

The only girl in the group whimpered, "But his leg. The nurse told me they could not save his leg."

Sakura winced inwardly. The sensei's leg was already gone when he came in. Unlike her previous patient whose arm was still stable and could be reattached, this shinobi's leg was a lost cause. It was shattered beyond repair. If she was in Konoha with Tsunade and some of the higher ranked medic-nins, they might have had a chance of saving it. But sadly, she was in Suna and this village was not ready for a medical miracle like that yet.

Another genin spoke up, "He can't be a shinobi anymore, can't he? He has to use a cane or wheelchair now, wouldn't he?"

The pinkette looked inside the hospital room and looked at their sensei, who was still resting from the intense surgery. From the indent of the blanket, it was clear which part of his limb was missing.

That was when an brilliant idea struck her and Sakura anxiously awaited her meeting with Sasori that night.

"A prosthetic leg?" Sasori asked after Sakura finished telling him about the sensei at the hospital and her brilliant idea.

"Yes! This is what Suna needs. This is what will define Suna's medical ninjas."

"Prosthetic limbs?" Sasori asked again.

The pinkette nodded, "You can help their sensei stand up and walk again."

The red head looked at his companion incredulously. Did she forget how his last prosthetic arm went? It did not end well.

"Just don't put your poison on it this time."

"Sakura, that's not the problem," Sasori sighed, "The problem is attaching the limb. Do you know how long it took me to attach Komushi's arm? All the chakra pathways needed to attach correctly or the limb would be useless, deadly even."

"I know that! That's where I come in! You make the limb, I put it on!"

Sasori stared at Sakura. With her expert knowledge of chakra pathways and the human body, it made sense that she should not have difficulties with connecting the puppet part and the host's chakra pathways. If what she was planning could be implemented efficiently, many disabled shinobis would be able to regain their abilities again. The possibilities were endless.

"We have to ask Kazekage-sama first," he relented and Sakura cheered.

"Let's go right now!"

The Third looked at his ANBU and the Konoha-medic with a curious gaze. The two of them had barged into his office, late in the evening, screaming about endless possibilities. Technically, one screamed while the other spoke calmly, but that's minor details.

"You want my permission to experiment with prosthetic limb attachment at the hospital?" he asked Sakura.

She nodded, "Just imagine what could happen! This would be a wonderful development for Suna. The puppet brigade is known for puppets usage. Now consider that being used to help shinobi with disabilities!"

"And what would Konoha gain from helping us with this development?"

The pinkette had not really considered Konoha's benefits when she thought of the idea, but she quickly whipped out something, "If I can develop a process to make this work, Konoha gets priority access to puppet prosthetic limbs. Furthermore, any medic-nin who wish to perform an attachment surgery must be first trained by a qualified Konoha-medic such as myself. Once I deemed the Suna-medic capable of the attachment surgery without my supervision, then he or she will be granted the right to supervise and train the next medic."

"Sounds fair. Write this up for me and you can go ask my jounin if he wants to give this a try."

Sakura nodded enthusiastically and pulled Sasori out of the office and proceeded to drag him with her towards the hospital. "This is going to be great!"

The Suna ANBU felt his heart skip a beat at the excited and flushed face of the Konoha medic-nin. Just one month ago, he would have snapped someone's arm if they pulled him around like that. But he did not mind as she dragged him across town with her.


	7. Chapter 6: Bittersweet

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 6: Bittersweet**

"Sasori-sama, Sakura-san, I don't know what I can do to show you my gratitude," the jounin sensei that was admitted to the hospital one week ago, with no hope of ever walking again, was standing on his own feet. Well, one real foot and one artificial one. He still had an IV drip connected to his arm, but he could not resist trying out his new limb, made specially for him.

When Sakura first introduced the idea to the jounin, he was quite startled. He was not a member of Suna's Puppet Brigade and had little experience with the usage of puppets. The most knowledge he had was from his academy days and watching the members of the Brigade in action. He was afraid, especially since he knew of Akasuna no Sasori's infamous human puppets. However, the earnest gleam in the Konoha kunoichi's eyes gave him courage. She also told him how his genins had cried while he was in the ICU and that cemented his resolve.

That very night, Sasori came and took measurements. Sakura stood by his side as if she knew how intimidating the Suna ANBU could be, at least for people who did not know him well. The red head had asked if the jounin would like any special compartments or weapons in his limb and the jounin timidly asked if he could have space to store weapons. Sasori nodded and left once he got what he needed. The pinkette promised that she would perform the surgery tomorrow and quickly ran after the Suna-nin.

Sasori created the prosthetic leg with some of the finer wood in his workshop and wrote a maintenance manual for the jounin. Sakura asked the more experienced Suna medic-nins to observe her surgery, because if the attachment was successful, these shinobis would be the first to learn the procedure.

The surgery was slightly trickier than she had thought, since she was not experienced with puppets. However, with Chiyo's assistance in the surgery room, Sakura was able to attach the limb correctly in half the time that Sasori used to attach the arm to Komushi. With practice, she was certain that the procedure could be completed even faster.

Sakura smiled at Sasori as the jounin's genins ran into the room and hugged their sensei. She held out a fist and winked. He rolled his eyes and softly fist-bumped her.

"We make a good team."

"Sure," Sasori replied sarcastically, to which Sakura roughly bumped his shoulder. It stung, but he was just glad that she did not use her full strength or his shoulder might be dislocated.

Sakura felt a small tug on her doctor's coat and she turned to see the only female genin holding a flower towards her. "Thank you for helping our sensei."

"Thank you!" the boys chorused.

A gentle smile formed on the pinkette's face, "Thank you." She took the flower gingerly. Then she turned her attention to their sensei, "You are going to be discharged at the end of next week. Until then, please take it easy. Try moving the leg when you are comfortable. If anything feels wrong or odd, please let me know right away. The maintenance manual is inside the drawer by your bed."

The jounin nodded and his genins turned back to him and continued their previous loud chatter. Sasori and Sakura quietly left the room.

"I was so relieved that the surgery was successful," Sakura confessed softly as she placed the little yellow flower behind her ear.

Sasori thought it did not suit her, since the colors clashed, but he had learnt to keep his mouth shut when she almost tore his finger off for criticizing her red shirt and clashing green jounin flak jacket.

"You had it in you," Sasori replied, "No one could have done a better job than you."

"Thank you, Sasori," her smile warmed his cheeks, but he blamed the desert heat… even though they were inside the hospital.

Sakura stretched her hands, "I can't wait to report this new development to Tsunade-Shishou when I go back to Konoha. She is going to be so proud! I already know a few shinobis who would benefit from this!"

The heat left Sasori's face. "How long until you go back?" " _leave me?_ "

The pinkette tapped her chin, "Well. There is a little less than a month left for the exchange. I should be able to squeeze in limb attachment into the agenda, but It's going to be super busy."

A sense of helplessness surged through the Suna-nin's heart. It was the same feeling that he got whenever his parents left for missions. He despised it. And somehow, learning that it was Sakura who was leaving soon - left an even worse aftertaste. But he hid it. He had learnt to hid it well after all those times during childhood.

"Are there any puppeteers that you trust to make acceptable prosthetic limbs?" Sakura asked, snapping his attention back. "It would be a lot of work for you to make the limbs by yourself."

Sasori looked away for a moment. "Chiyo-Baa, and she has all the time in the world now that she is retired."

"That's true. I will go talk to her now. It's my day off today."

But before Sakura could take a step towards the direction of the Elder's home, Sasori grabbed her elbow lightly. She gave him a questioning glance and waited.

"Can we get some sweets?"

The pinkette tilted her head to the side, "Sure, did you want to go now? That was so random."

Sasori nodded, "We can take some dango to Chiyo-Baa and Ebizo-Jii."

"I see! I should bring something to them since it is my first time visiting after all."

He did not comment as she took his elbow and led him towards the restaurant that she knew how to get to with her eyes closed.

When they arrived, the Elders were fishing in the little pond inside one of the rooms in their huge home. Chiyo had quickly ordered Sasori to make tea and Ebizo to set up a table by the pond. She, herself, gave Sakura a quick tour of the main rooms before they returned to join Sasori and Ebizo for the desserts and tea. The two men were pretending to have polite conversation when they arrived, because if Chiyo knew that they were complaining about her, they were most likely going to die.

"Sakura-san, you are doing wonders for Suna," Ebizo said softly as he dug into the dangos before his sister could consume everything.

"I had lots of help," she smiled in return as she looked at both Sasori and Chiyo.

Chiyo had a small smile on her face as well as she stared into her cup of green tea, "I am glad to be of use to my village again."

The room got quieter, causing Ebizo to speak again. "I understand that you will be leaving Suna in less than a month. What are your plans now?" He noticed that Sasori had suddenly become suspiciously interested in his tea cup.

Sakura finished slurping up her spoonful of anmitsu, "I am trying to finish my lessons on chakra scalpel to three of the medics and working on my 'Puppet Limb Project'. I plan to begin writing the procedure protocol with Chiyo-sama and completing as much of it as possible before I leave. I have to report back to the Hokage at the end of the exchange, but I am going to work on requesting someone, hopefully Chiyo-sama if possible, to come help me perform this procedure in Konoha. This way, I have more substantial proof that this procedure is beneficial."

"It would be difficult to send me though," Chiyo sighed, "I am one of the Elders."

"Yes, I understand that, but it won't hurt to try."

Ebizo was still looking at the quiet Sasori. With a swift motion, he took a dango dumpling from Chiyo's stick and dropped it on his plate. The red head was startled, but muttered a small thanks. "Sakura-san, it was nice of you to bring sweets to me. It's quite unfair that you only treat my sister out."

Chiyo glared at him, causing Sakura to laugh, "It wasn't my idea. Sasori was the one who asked if we could get sweets."

At that comment, the Konoha-nin felt a sudden change in the room's atmosphere. " _Did I say something wrong?!_ "

Chiyo looked at Sasori from the corner of her eyes as memories from his childhood came back to her. She fully understood what getting sweets meant to him. What surprised her was how attached he had become to the Konoha-medic. But then again, she was quite attached to the pink haired girl as well. This little kunoichi had their whole family wrapped around her fingers and she did not even know it.

Sasori's gloom, painfully obvious to the siblings, was lost to the pinkette. The silence was lingering and the Elders could feel Sakura's unease growing. Finally, Chiyo broke the tension, "Sasori, it is getting late. Can you walk Sakura home? Make sure she gets in bed before you leave, I don't want her staying up doing whatever she does when she gets big ideas."

Sakura grumbled, "I'm not a child, Chiyo-sama!"

"To us, you are," Ebizo teased.

"I'm sure Sasori has more important things to do than walk me, a more than capable kunoichi, home."

Just as Sasori was about to agree that Sakura was more than capable of taking care of herself, he felt the unmistakable sensation of chakra strings tugging on the hem of his pants. His eyes briefly met his grandmother's.

He sighed. Sakura looked at him curiously.

"Let's go." With that, he got up from the table and turned to leave. Sakura quickly said goodbye to the Elders and chased after him.

Instead of leaping from rooftops, Sasori somehow found himself taking Sakura home civilian style - literally walking. He could feel the Konoha-nin walking at a deliberate, slow pace, as if she was taking an evening stroll with him. The moon was gleaming and the breeze was warm. All things considered, it could count as a rather romantic walk.

Sakura looked at Sasori from the corner of her eyes, "Did I say something wrong earlier? It got really quiet and you seem upset."

Sasori shook his head, "I'm not."

"That just confirmed that you are!" Sakura cut in front of the red head and stared at him face to face. Sasori could not help noticing how the moonlight reflected in her large green eyes. The usual fire inside was glowing instead of blazing.

He looked away, breaking eye contact.

"I am good at reading people who like to keep a stoic face," Sakura huffed, "Trust me, I have more experience than I could count."

"It's nothing," Sasori replied softly as he brushed by her and continued walking.

Sakura grumbled to herself and followed him. She looked at him, from the top of his head to his toes, then back to his face. Usually when Sasuke or Kakashi got upset, she just had to analyze their facial expression, posture, and past incidents in order to diagnose the problem. From what she understood of Sasori, she knew reading his face and posture would not do her much good. Unlike her beloved boys, he was an elite ANBU. He had years of experience controlling his emotions and movements; anything that he gave away were either purposeful or an extremely rare slip-up. Thus, she had to rely on what she knew about his past and the new information that she had gathered as his friend.

From what Chiyo told her during their weekly meetings ever since she and Sasori reconciled, Sakura learned that Sasori particularly enjoyed sweets. However, he knew that sweets was something special and only asked for sweets when he deserved a reward or consolation. He also only had one friend that Chiyo knew of, but he had passed away when Sasori was only a chunin. Sasori's parents were killed in the war by the White Fang of Konoha. He was supposedly a cold-hearted, calculative, and manipulative shinobi, but that fearful image had long left Sakura's mind. Sasori was kind in his own way, but he was not good at expressing it. He also liked to tease and could be quite sarcastic. Furthermore, he was needy. The red head would probably kill her if she dared to mention it, but from her observations in the greenhouse and hospital, Sakura could defend her claim with numerous evidence. If anything, he was as needy as her boys back home.

 _Wait… that's it._

By the time Sakura completed her analysis and came up with a conclusion, she had subconsciously opened her front door and let her and Sasori into the apartment. Sasori quirked an eyebrow at her and Sakura grinned - the grin that meant she had figured out the antidote to his poison, the secret location of Tsunade's sake stash, the answer to the mysteries of the world, and the truth to his silence.

She placed her hands on her hips, "You are sad because you are going to miss me."

The pinkette was scrutinizing his face for any sign of indication that she had hit the mark. The very brief, slight movement of his eyelid was all she needed. _Bingo._

"Yes."

His honest reply threw Sakura off-guard; she had expected him to deny the accusation in the same manner that her boys did back home. She supposed that Sasori was much more mature than them.

Sasori sat down on the couch and stared down at his open palms. Sakura found herself settling beside him and resting her head against his shoulder. Her long pink tresses spilled onto his hands and he twisted a few strands in his fingers.

"Should I turn you into a puppet so that you can't leave me," his murmur was so quiet that Sakura almost missed it. This sentence would have sent chills down any weaker beings' spines, but the pinkette was no weakling. In truth, she thought it was quite sweet.

She laughed, "I don't have any innate special abilities besides good chakra control. Your time and effort would be wasted. Besides, if I become a puppet, who would you discuss your poison research with?"

The red head released her hair, "You seem so at ease with the thought of saying goodbye."

Sakura smiled weakly but he could not see it, "Saying goodbye is not so bad if it's not for forever."

A gentle silence enveloped them for a lingering moment until Sasori spoke again, "I don't like saying goodbye."

Sakura lifted her head up and openly giggled at him, "You sound like a child."

His honey brown eyes stared back at her. The hint of sadness that had always resided there had slowly gone away after he became closer with Sakura, but it was back. It was as if he was a child again. He was partially considering his puppet offer, but he knew that it was absurd. Sakura was a Konoha-nin and she had her obligations. She was also right that their goodbye was not permanent, but Sasori doubted that they would see each other often.

Unlike him, Sakura was popular. He doubted she had a shortage of friends - her personality just drew people to her. She often mentioned a few of her closest friends, but he knew they were a small percentage of all the people whom she deemed friends. She was also beautiful and he found it more difficult to not stare as the days went on. There were probably many men, shinobi and civilian alike, who were chasing after her back in Konoha. Sasori felt his gut twist at that thought, but he dismissed it.

Sakura intertwined her fingers with Sasori's. His hand was not much bigger than hers, but his skin was definitely rougher. "I won't forget you if that's what you are worried about."

He squeezed her hand.

"Let's help you make friends!" Sakura suddenly cheered, "That way you won't miss me so much when I leave."

Sasori rolled his eyes. He was 26 years old and an ANBU elite. He did not need help making friends. Besides, he was already friends with the Third Kazekage and that man was already an handful.

"No."

"If you say so."


	8. Chapter 7: Home Sweet Home

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 7: Home Sweet Home**

Today was Sakura's last day of the exchange and she met with the Third Kazekage prior to her departure. She gave him her final report and he gave her a scroll to pass on to the Hokage in return. Then to her surprise, he proceeded to walk her to the entrance.

When they arrived, Sakura noted that the Elders, Maki, Tomoe, and some of the medic-nins and shinobis that she had met during her stay were all waiting at the gate. The pinkette hugged each person who had came to see her off, but it was taking longer than she thought. More people had shown up than she had expected.

Maki, the genins whose sensei she helped, and some of the younger medic-nins asked if she would return soon. Sakura smiled at them, "Probably. I am still working on the Puppet Limb Project after all."

Then the pinkette turned to Chiyo, "I will be in contact after I discuss the project with Hokage-sama. If shishou doesn't force me to take a break, it should be within a week or two."

The Elder nodded, "I will be waiting."

Sakura looked at the crowd and bowed, "Thank you for your hospitality, everyone. I really enjoyed my time here in Suna. I hope to see you all again soon."

"What about Sasori-sama?" Maki suddenly piped up when she noticed the missing red head. He was usually attached to Sakura's side; it felt odd that he was nowhere to be seen.

Sakura smiled, "He doesn't like to say goodbye."

With that, Sakura patted the confused girl's head and gave one last nod at the Kazekage. The two ANBUs who had accompanied Sakura to Suna were already waiting outside the wall. She greeted them with a soft wave. In a blink, the three of them faded away into the desert.

The Third Kazekage sighed softly when he returned to his office and found a figure waiting. He set his Kage hat down and settled into his chair. "Sasori."

"She left."

Sasori's face was stoic, but the hint of sadness in his honey orbs were prominent to the Kage.

The journey back to Konoha was rather uneventful. Chiyo had given Sakura some dangos for the trip and she had shared them with the ANBUs. They informed her that not much had changed in Konoha. Tsunade was as demanding as always and everyone was doing well. The hospital was busier since she was gone and her team had been more rowdy since she was not there to berate them. And of course, everyone missed her.

When Sakura landed in front of Konoha's main entrance, the ANBUs flanking her side disappeared. Their duty of safely escorting her, or rather keeping her company during the four day journey, was completed. The entrance guards greeted Sakura happily as she passed them. The pinkette was surprised that her team was not there waiting for her, but she assumed they might be busy with their own responsibilities. It would not be too difficult to find them and catch up later. Her first priority was to report to the Hokage.

Sakura leapt onto the closest rooftop and dashed toward the Hokage building. Two chunins on guard duty greeted her excitedly. One offered to walk her to the office, but Sakura declined the offer politely. Even though she was gone for three months, she still knew her way around the building. Before she even knocked on the door, her Shishou already called for her to enter.

The pinkette was glad to see Tsunade sitting up right and sober. She looked the same as when she left for the mission. "Shishou!"

As much as she wanted to hug her student, Tsunade still had to perform her duties as Hokage. "Report, Haruno."

"Yes," Sakura stood to attention. She dropped her huge pack onto the ground and retrieved a gigantic scroll and a smaller scroll. She placed both directly in front of Tsunade. "The large one is my report and the smaller one is from the Kazekage. He gave it to me before I left Suna."

The blonde's eye twitched at the sheer size of Sakura's mission report. But she could understand that it was a three month long mission and the pinkette could be quite meticulous. She did not even want to touch it, but she knew she had to read the whole thing in its entirety eventually.

"Summary please," Tsunade sighed as she poked at the scroll with disgust.

Sakura held down a giggle. "Mission was successful. I increased Suna's hospital and its staffs' efficiency. Even the lowest rank medic should be capable of healing a superficial injury and first degree burn alone and without supervision. I taught three higher rank medic chakra scalpels, but there was not enough time to teach other offensive medical ninjutsus. As for my own lessons, there was a change in sensei."

Tsunade's eyebrows moved.

"I was originally under the tutelage of Chiyo-sama, but my sensei changed to her grandson, Sasori."

The eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"Chiyo-sama confessed that she had retired and became Suna's Elder since the end of the last Great Shinobi World War. The current poison master is none other than Sasori. My lessons were continued with him as sensei after I passed his assessment by making an antidote to his poison. I have organized the data and information and I will enter them into archive and make copies for the library and hospital. He of course had reservations, just as I had with my teachings of medical ninjutsus and offensive medical ninjutsus."

"Good, is that everything?" Tsunade had difficulty grasping the fact that Sasori, the Akasuna no Sasori, was willing to become a sensei. From what she knew from the war, that man was cold and calculative. Why would he take time away from whatever that he did to talk about poisons with a Konoha-nin?

"That's not all," Sakura said excitedly, "I also started a revolutionary medical project! I call it the 'Puppet Limb Project'."

Tsunade rubbed her face tiredly. She sent her student to Suna for a medical exchange and she had to go and find something big to do. Did this girl not know that everytime she came up with something "revolutionary", she had to sign mountains of paperwork? She shuddered as she remembered the Children Mental Health Department that Sakura and Ino had established two years ago. Now she understood why the Second Hokage also rubbed his face when she had revolutionary ideas during the old days.

Sakura pulled out another scroll, "Here is the information. I included the protocol and the first case details. There are also some more background information and requests that I have regarding the expansion of this project."

The Hokage held up a hand, "Hold up. You already tried it?"

She nodded as she passed the scroll over, "I got the Kazekage and the patient's permission. The patient's leg had to be amputated, but he now has a puppet leg that functions normally."

Tsunade's head was spinning. First Sasori, now functional puppet limbs. What was Sakura doing these three months? She knew her pupil was extraordinary, but this was too much to absorb without alcohol in her system. "Let me read this scroll first. I want you to come back tomorrow at noon and we will discuss this. You are dismissed."

Sakura nodded, "Got it."

Before she left the room, the blonde called out, "Welcome home, Sakura."

A big smile formed on her face, "I am home, Tsunade-shishou."

After Sakura left the tower, she ran straight home. She desperately needed a shower and she wanted to make sure everything was as she had left it. She had commissioned a mission for Team Naruto to clean and take care of her plants once a week while she was gone. She had no doubt that Rin and Kakashi did a great job, but she was worried about Obito. He tended to get his nose into things where he should not. He once knocked himself out when he touched one of the toxic plants that she was studying.

However, when she approached her apartment, something felt off. All her traps were deactivated by someone who knew exactly what they were doing. It was dark and too quiet. Sakura giggled softly, "I know you guys are in there."

Suddenly the door flipped open and Sakura was dragged inside by a pair of orange cladded arms. The lights flashed on, blinding her momentarily. All her friends screamed welcomed back as she was enveloped in a huge group hug with Naruto, Ino, Tenten, and Rin.

After Naruto pulled back, he smiled, "Sasuke said you'd notice, but you didn't expect the whole town, did y'all?!"

Sakura smiled back, "I expected you to go to this far. But I still appreciate everything! I will pretend to be surprised!"

She looked at everyone in her apartment, "Thanks everyone!"

Besides Naruto, Ino, Tenten, and Rin, there were many others. Sasuke, Obito, Kakashi, Itachi, Neji, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and a few other medics and shinobis. Everyone wanted to speak with Sakura but they were waiting for their turn while eating and chatting with each other. It was a party after all, not an interrogation.

"How was Suna? Did the mission go well?" Sasuke asked as he appeared from the side and Sakura gave him a small hug.

Ino pushed him aside. Yes, she dared to. "Don't talk about missions. Tell me, forehead. Any hot guys in Suna?"

"Pig, I was there to work!" Sakura grumbled.

"No, Sakura isn't into the hot type. She is into flower guys," Tenten interrupted.

At the mention of flower boys, a red haired man popped into her mind. An image of the Suna ANBU folicking in the desert as if he was a flower made her giggle. That very moment, several pair of eyes widen.

"Who is he?" Kakashi asked before Naruto could speak.

Sakura held up her hands, "Hey, not even you too, Kakashi-kun! Seriously. I was there for work. I just thought of pretty boys folicking in flowers and it was so funny."

Ino clicked her tongue, "So there was a pretty boy though."

"Uchihas aren't the only good looking guys out there," Sakura grinned, "Remember Haku from that mission, Naruto?"

Sasuke bristled at her comment about his clan, while the less loud blonde tapped his chin, "Yeah, he was pretty."

"Come on, enough talk about boys already! We are here to celebrate my return home! Let's eat!" Sakura cheered. Then she looked at Sasuke, "As for your question, the mission was very successful! I will tell you more about it later."

"Food!" Both Naruto and Tenten chroused as they went to join the others further in the apartment.

Ino gave Sakura another hug and whispered in her ear, "I won't be easily distracted like Naruto. I want details later."

The pinkette sighed exasperatedly and walked after Naruto to greet her other friends.

Rin giggled and elbowed Kakashi, "You heard that right? Are you a flower under that mask?"

"I outrank you," Kakashi bit back and trailed after his favorite sensei.

The party ended late that evening and the more sober nins had to support the wasted nins home. The two genin and one chunin who were not old enough to drink had to assist with the transport of the especially rowdy drunks. Namely Kiba and Naruto. Sakura was surprised she was able to wake up in time for her meeting with Tsunade. She thanked the heavens for her medical ability as she healed her headache.

She arrived at the office at noon sharp. When she entered, Tsunade had the "Puppet Limb Project" scroll opened on her desk. There was a serious expression on her face.

"What do you think, Shishou?"

"How is the jounin that you tested this on?"

"He was in tip top condition when I left Suna. Chiyo-sama and Tomoe-san are checking on him regularly and there are no problems so far."

Tsunade nodded in approval. "I would like this done on a Konoha-nin before we proceed further with the development of this project. I would like to see the process and result myself. This would also give comfort to Suna that Konoha is participating actively in this project."

Sakura's eyes gleamed in absolute glee. "I was hoping you would say that! There is a chunin at the academy who is missing a leg, similar to the jounin that I performed the surgery on. With your permission, I will go speak with him regarding this matter immediately. We also need to send for a puppeteer from Suna to create the prosthetic limb."

"Slow down," Tsunade ordered, "You just got back, don't you want a break?"

"There is work to be done!" the pinkette replied.

"I give you permission to speak with the chunin, but you must take three days off. I will write a message to Suna in three days to request a puppeteer's assistance."

Sakura was about to argue but the glare in her Shishou's eyes was threatening her to keep quiet or the three days would be extended. The kunoichi nodded submissively and left when Tsunade dismissed her. She was itching to get work done, but even her body knew she needed rest. Sakura decided that she should probably visit the Uchiha's. She got wasted before she could tell Sasuke and Itachi about her mission and she had brought some herbal tea from Suna as a gift for Mikoto.

Mikoto warmly welcomed her into their home when she knocked on the main house door. She immediately brew the tea that Sakura had gifted her. Fugaku was working, Itachi was reading in the sitting room, and Sasuke was still sleeping. Sakura smiled at Itachi as she sat down across from him. She slid him a small jar and he eyed it with interest. It was the special dango sauce that she brought from her favorite dessert store back in Suna. Originally, Sakura wanted to bring back dangos for her favorite Uchiha Captain, but they would not survive the trip.

Itachi opened the jar and smiled softly, "I think mother just made some plain dangos too. We can use this." He brought the jar with him into the kitchen.

While they worked in the kitchen, Sakura took it upon herself to wake up Sasuke. When she entered his room, he had already sat up.

"You are up!" Sakura grinned.

"I had never heard my mom say your name that loudly before," Sasuke stretched and stood up. His spiky hair was messier than usual and Sakura stood on her tippy toes as she attempted to tame it.

"There are dango and tea in the sitting room."

"Stop bribing my family," Sasuke hissed as Sakura threw him a black shirt made from Suna's best cotton, "except me."

The next day, Sakura decided that it was finally time to visit the Yamanaka flower shop to find one of her favorite blondes. She spent yesterday evening with the Uchihas and then slept over at Naruto's with all of Team Naruto. Now, it was time to face the ultimate boss: her best friend and number one gossip in all of Konoha.

Said blonde was standing behind the counter and looking at her nails with a bored expression. She did not glance up despite the doorbell's little jingle. It was expected though, since Sakura was not hiding her chakra signature.

"You finally showed up," Ino said in a deep, taunting voice.

"I have," Sakura replied while holding down her laughter, "and I bought tribute."

Ino's eyes snapped up as Sakura passed over a box. Inside was a bottle of nail polish and dried flowers; both were made from a violet flower that was native to Suna.

"You did well," Ino decided to get back into character.

"Okay, okay, stop it!" Sakura laughed.

The blonde put the box under the counter and fixed Sakura in a stare, "Now, details."

"Ino! I was there for work!"

Ino placed her hands against her hip, "Please, we both knew you purposely changed the topic during the party. Now tell me about the guy you thought of when Tenten mentioned flower guy."

"What do you want to know?" Sakura relented as she propped against the counter.

"Everything. Name, occupation, height, weight, relationship status with you, rate his face out of 10, rate his body out of 10, rate his personality out of 10. Any other important details."

"Pig! I am not going to do that!"

The blonde brushed one strand of her loose hair from her face and sighed, "Fine! Tell me what you are willing to share. I will do the research myself."

"His name is Sasori. He looks like a flower boy, but he is a top tier shinobi and he was my poison sensei after Chiyo-sama gave her position to him. We became good friends!"

Ino narrowed her eyes, "Just friends?"

"Yes!" Sakura grumbled.

Ino huffed, "I bet you two bonded over something nerdy like poisons and antidotes while working in some sort of greenhouse."

Sakura's eyes widen and fake tears lined her lashes, "Pig, you know me so well!"

Later that night, the pinkette regretted telling Ino his name when she barged into her apartment a little before midnight, screaming "Akasuna no Sasori", and proceeded to keep Sakura up all night to talk about this flower boy who also happened to be one of Suna's best shinobis.


	9. Chapter 8: Revelation

**The Exchange**

 **Chapter 8: Revelation**

Chiyo was sipping her green tea peacefully when Sasori entered the house. After Sakura left, her grandson had decided to move back to their old home to live with Chiyo and Ebizo. He claimed that it was for safety reasons since the two of them were getting old, but Chiyo knew better. She pretended to take offense from his comment, but welcomed him back happily.

"Any words from Sakura?" Chiyo asked. Earlier that day, Sasori told her that he would be working at the Kazekage building for the morning, helping the Third with miscellaneous things.

Sasori shook his head.

Ever since Sakura left, the red head had gotten quiet again. He was more talkative than during the cold war period between him and Chiyo, but he was definitely less sociable than when Sakura was around. Even the Third had mentioned this observation to Chiyo when she reported to him to discuss the Puppet Limb Project.

"I am sure the Slug Princess is forcing her to take a break. We both know Sakura is a workaholic, a break is good for her," Chiyo tried to cheer him up.

Sasori nodded, "I'm fine, Chiyo-Baa. I am going out to get some supplies. I will be back later."

Chiyo waved goodbye as the red head left as quickly as he had returned.

Sasori had been visiting his favorite wood supplier daily since Sakura left. There was a special wood that he deemed perfect for the purpose of making prosthetic limbs, but it was harder to come by. The supplier told him that a new supply was coming soon and Sasori checked everyday to ensure that he could retrieve the supply and prep them before Sakura would need them.

On his way back from the store, he saw a familiar girl waving at him. As she ran closer to him, he noticed it was Maki. "Sasori-sama! Good evening!"

Even though Sasori knew Sakura was joking when she offered to help him make friends, she had unintentionally brought him closer to many of Suna's shinobis when she took him out with her during her free time. His image of terrifying ANBU still existed, but many of Sakura's friends had grown to look past that.

"Hello, Maki," he greeted politely.

"Any words on Sakura-san? I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I really miss her!"

Sasori shook his head. The girl was with Sakura everyday and knew her before he did, it was understandable that she was missing Sakura as much as he was.

Maki rolled on the balls of her feet, "But I know you definitely miss her much more than me!"

That took Sasori back and if Maki was as highly skilled as Sakura was when it came to stoic man, she would have noticed the change in his eyes. When he did not reply, the girl continued talking.

"I mean, almost everyone know you totally love Sakura-san. We were all really surprised when you did not show up when she left."

" _What?_ " The change in his expression could be noticed by a lower level jounin now.

"She said something about how you did not like saying goodbye when I asked her. But I was really surprised! I thought you might show up and ask her not to leave or something cheesy like that. Tomoe-san laughed when I told him."

Sasori narrowed his eyes slightly and it was noticeable to Maki, a chunin.

"Sasori-san?" she had stopped babbling.

"What do you mean by 'almost everyone know you totally love Sakura'?" the red head asked.

Maki covered her mouth in surprise, "Was that supposed to be a secret?!" Maki thought she was in terrible trouble, but when she noticed how confused the man before her was, a light bulb went off in her mind. A slightly evil grin curved her lips, "You don't know you love Sakura-san?"

His silence was her answer.

"I will explain everything to you." Maki was grinning with fully evil intent now, "if you buy me a new set of kunai." She knew Sasori was wealthy, he had been an ANBU for years and definitely raked up loads of money from missions.

Sasori fixed her in a stare, "I am still an ANBU who can end you without anyone questioning what happened to you." His voice was cold, the opposite of the warmth that he had adapted since he befriended the Konoha-medic.

Maki felt a slight shiver shoot down her back, but she crossed her arms in defiance in a manner similar to Sakura's. "You won't lay a hand on me. Sakura-san said you are a softie on the inside and you would be in big trouble if Sakura-san don't see me when she comes back."

Sasori's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I will buy you a set of toy kunais."

"What?!"

A small smirk formed on his lips, "You did not specify."

Maki stared at the set of grade A kunais that rested in her palms as Sasori ordered green tea and tempura for the two of them. At first, she thought Sasori was serious about the toy kunais, but he took her to one of the best weapon stores in the market. He swiftly picked the set off the shelf and paid for it without batting an eye. The store owner seemed to know him well and completed the sale with a polite "please come again." Then he proceeded to ask her what she wanted for dinner and entered the first restaurant that she pointed to.

"Can I really have it?" Maki's eyes were gleaming.

"Yes, stop making me repeat myself."

"This was the first time you repeated yourself," Maki mumbled under her breath. Sasori heard it, but he let it slide because she was right that Sakura would kill him if he dared to end the chunin, despite how disrespectful she was acting.

"Now tell me what you were saying earlier," Sasori said.

Maki finally placed the set of kunais down and returned her gaze to Sasori. "Sasori-sama, do you know what love is?"

"Stop testing my patience."

"Just answer me!"

Sasori sighed, "It's an emotion you feel towards people you hold affection for. There are many forms of love, but I suppose we are discussing romantic love here."

Maki nodded as if she was a sensei speaking to her genin, "Good. Now, do you know what jealousy is?"

Sasori made fists under the table, "It is the fear of losing something you have."

"Now, imagine Sakura-sama being cuddly with a very handsome Konoha-nin. Imagine an Uchiha." Maki had never seen a so-called Uchiha, but Sakura always used Uchiha to describe good-looking men and Maki was certain that Sasori had seen at least one during his career.

The visual of Sakura hugging a Konoha-nin who had dark sleek hair and well-balanced facial features caused an unwanted twist in Sasori's stomach. It was similar to the feeling that he got when he thought about how Sakura was probably pursued by many men back in Konoha. Her smile was beautiful, but it was not directed at him. There was only that man reflected in her eyes, but Sasori knew the Uchiha was not good enough for her. He did not like it.

Maki could see the unmistakable jealousy that filled Sasori's honey eyes. She cleared her throat, "Now imagine spending the rest of your life with Sakura-san. You two living together and you are the one she is cuddling."

Sasori growled, "Why am I doing this?"

"Just do it!" Maki bit into her food that had just arrived.

He imagined himself taking the spot of the Uchiha. Sakura was smiling at him with that beautiful, beautiful expression. Her eyes were lit up and blazing with a warm fire. Her lips were plump, inviting him to taste them with his own. Her long tresses framed her perfectly heart-shaped face, like an picture that he could not forget. She was looking at him, only him. The twist in his gut uncoiled and began to flutter around. He felt on top of the world.

When he was finally done enjoying his imagination, he realized what Maki did. She wanted him to understand and recognize the feelings that he felt towards Sakura. Each time those feelings arose, he had dismissed them. Now, he saw them for what they were.

"Your conclusion?" Maki was copying Sakura's way of asking her students for their answers to her questions.

"I love Haruno Sakura."

"Time you noticed!" Maki smiled as she finished her tempura. "Thank you for the kunais and dinner! I will put in a good word for you when she comes back!" She quickly stood up and left. Maki knew she was pushing her boundaries and was running away before Sasori decided to kill her. But if she did not aggravate Sasori, she knew their conversation would not have proceeded as it did.

Sasori sat at the table for a long time, trying to truly understand his revelation. The store owner had came to check on him and Sasori asked to take the food to go. With the cold tempuras in one hand, Sasori leapt onto the rooftops and dashed home.

He almost ran the door down and surprised Chiyo, who was sitting in the same area writing in a scroll. "Chiyo-Baa!"

"Yes?" the Elder had never seen Sasori's face like that. The usual lazy honey flowing in his eyes looked like burning embers.

"I love Haruno Sakura."

"Oh," Chiyo pushed her scroll aside, "Who made you realize that?"

"Maki, the chu-" Sasori stopped answering. "Was I the only one who was unaware of my feelings?"

Chiyo laughed as she beckoned her grandson to sit with her, "I am sure Sakura didn't notice your feelings since her head was full of the Puppet Limb Project."

Now that he was fully aware of the situation. Sasori finally understood why his heart was skipping beats; why he felt like it was too hot when he was in doors, why he felt irritated at the Third's terrible flirts, and why he felt horrible at the thought of saying goodbye to Sakura. He did not live up to his intelligence as he should, but then again, there was no intelligence when it came to understanding love.

"I need to get her back."

"You should talk to the Kazekage about that."

The red head abruptly stood up, but Chiyo was already accustomed to his out of character actions as of late. A man in love could not be understood, period. After Sasori left again, Ebizo entered the room to join his sister. She winked at Ebizo who smiled, "You have a chance to get great-grandchildren now."

When Sasori barged into his personal home at ten at night, the Third thought the village was under attack. He had leapt up from bed and thrown on his robe that was on the chair beside his bed. Then he noticed Sasori was not clad in his ANBU gear and the odd expression on his face meant that something was wrong, but it had nothing to do with the village. The Third sighed and sat down on his chair. As much as he liked Sakura, he did not appreciate how her tendency to run head first into things had rubbed off on his most patient shinobi. Sasori was a meticulous and orderly man - he did not ran into people's home unannounced.

"Judging from the look on your face and your untimely visit, I suppose something happened?" the Third asked off-handedly, not even bothering to ask Sasori to sit.

Sasori repeated for the third time that night, "I love Haruno Sakura."

A curious gleam filled silver eyes, "Oh? So it's true."

"I need to get her back."

The Third smirked, "That can be arranged, but please come back in the morning." With that, he used his iron sand to turn Sasori around and gently pushed him out his bedroom window.

 **A few days later in Konoha**

Sakura was itching for Suna's reply. She had asked the bird keepers for a favor and requested the fastest hawk to carry Tsunade's message to Suna. Ichigo, named for his tendency to steal strawberries from the bird keepers, held the record for traveling to Suna and back in three days. He departed three days ago and was expected to return by evening.

"Sakura, stop staring at the windows, that's only going to strain your eyes," Tsunade ordered.

But then, a small pecking sound at the window interrupted her from lecturing the pinkette further. Sakura leapt to open the window and Ichigo flew directly to Tsunade. The blonde unclasped the canister tied to his leg and slipped out a piece of paper. As she read it, she felt more confused than anything, but when she looked at Sakura who was asking to see the paper, realization dawned on her and a smile formed on her face. She crumpled the paper and Sakura could only stare at her Shishou.

The paper's message was "I sent lover boy with my reply. Expect him in two days after receiving this message. - Third Kazekage."

"What did it say, Shishou?" Sakura asked, "the paper was too small to be a complete reply to our request!"

Tsunade nodded, "You are right, this is why the Third Kazekage had dispatched a shinobi with his reply after he sent Ichigo to let me know."

"A shinobi? Who? Could it be a puppeteer?" Sakura was literally jumping with curiosity.

"Come back in two days and you will know who it is."

Sakura's eyes widen, "Two days?! But Ichigo just got back." " _This mean it can't be Chiyo-sama. Given that Ichigo took off one and a half day ago, this shinobi must be travelling at record speed to get to Konoha two days from now. Whoever this person was, they must be fast._ "

The pinkette was radiating curiosity. She had met a few other puppeteers beside Chiyo and Sasori, but she could only call them acquaintances at best and none seemed to be especially "fast" in her opinion. Besides, why would they need to travel so quickly? She knew she was dying to start the project in Konoha, but this shinobi would have nothing to gain from depleting their chakra in rushing to Konoha. It did not make any sense to her.

As if Tsunade could see the question in her head, she spoke, "Maybe they have something they want to see in Konoha." Luckily, Sakura was too confused to notice how Tsunade was struggling to hold down her snickers.

The two day wait was agony for Sakura. Not only did she not know how the proposed surgery would proceed, she was also banned from entering the hospital to pick up extra shifts. She was so accustomed to her busy lifestyle in Suna that she found herself looking for more things to do. Normally, she would help Ino out at the flower shop or assist Naruto with team training, but they were both out of Konoha for their own missions. She sparred with Sasuke, but that did not take an entire day. When she was caught by Mikoto for doing Sasuke's chores, albeit voluntarily, she was promptly kicked out of the Uchiha household.

When the third morning finally arrived, Sakura had scampered out of bed bright and early. She got ready in half the time that she usually took. Over the last two days, she had speculated the identity of the Suna shinobi and there was a high probability that she was correct in her guess. Honestly, there was no other puppeteer who could travel as fast as him, but the question was why though. What would he gain? He was impatient, but he was not reckless. Perhaps he wanted to show off his ability to Sakura, she had no doubt that he would do that considering how she destroyed him at arm wrestling. Still, the medic could not know for certain if the dispatched shinobi was who she thought he was until she checked.

Dressed in her jounin flak jacket and with her hair tied in a ponytail, Sakura ran to the main gate of Konoha. Technically, Tsunade would summon her once the Suna-nin arrived at her office or she could even wait there until they arrived, but a particular someone's distaste for waiting seemed to have rubbed off on her.

The guards at the gate greeted Sakura with large yawns. Their shift lasted from midnight till morning, so they were both more than ready to go home. Sakura smiled back in greeting.

"Waiting for someone?" one asked.

"Yes," Sakura replied.

"Team Naruto is not due back back for another few days and Sasuke-san is in town," the other spoke up, "Who else is lucky enough to have Sakura-san wait at the gate this early in the morning?"

"A good friend," Sakura smiled gently. Her expression was soft and warm and both chunins felt slightly envious of the person whom that curve of the lips was meant for.

Just as the first guard was about to ask her for more details, a figure appeared in the distance. Both chunins stood to attention next to the pinkette as she shielded her eyes from the rising sun in order to see better. The person walking towards them was wearing a light brown cloak and Suna's signature ANBU regalia. The smile on Sakura's face grew bigger as she stepped forward, moving outside of Konoha's protective walls.

The man stopped directly in front of her and his honey brown eyes peered down at her. She could not see the lower part of his face, but she knew he was returning her smile.

"I thought it might be you," Sakura said softly, "only you would be impatient enough to run all the way here from Suna."

"We both know you can't wait to begin your project and I don't like to make people wait. I did you a favor."

Sakura laughed as she wrapped her arms around his torso, much to the surprise of the two chunins who had been staring with their mouths wide open. In return, Sasori, while forcing his heart to slow down, hugged her back with one arm around her waist and one hand at the back of her head. He lightly pressed her closer and Sakura obliged until her face was touching his collar bone.

"I missed you," Sakura's voice was muffled, but Sasori heard it loudly and clearly.

"I missed you more."

 **-End**

 **Thank you for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing this story. I honestly just wanted to get my Sasosaku feels off my chest when I wrote the story, but the reviews and favorites made me really happy.**

 **I was going to end the story with a humorous note where Sasori arrives to Konoha with a mission to woo Sakura back to Suna and Sakura is shocked by his confession, but I decided to go further with the idea. There just was not enough scenes to release all my feels and I am certain that some readers would like to see more moments between them. Furthermore, the relationship is rather one-sided as of now and there was little romance on Sakura's part. Thus, I have decided to make a sequel! It will have take place in Konoha and who knows, I might throw in a rival...**

 **Please keep an eye out for it!**


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